
ClassXEl^ 
Book ^ W^ 7 

Cop\Tiglil N" 

COniilGHT IJKPOSIT- 



The Quest 

of 

The Germ: 

With Observations Thereanent 



By Eugene H. Wood, A. M., M. D. 



It's me against the world and I am everlastingly right. — The Author 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOE, 
MILWAUKEE, WIS. 
1906. 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Received 

JUN 18 1906 

<^^ Copy rjehi Entry j 
CLASS '€C'XX(* No. 



COPYRIGHTED 1906 BY EUGENE H. WOOD 
The right of foreign publication reserved 



PRINTKD BY TOWEI.T. BKOS.. MILWAUKEE, WIS. 



DEDICATION 



THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED 
TO 

THE MEMBERS 
OF 
THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 
PARIS^ FRANCE^ 

AND 

THEY ARE NOTIFIED HEREBY 

THAT 

THE EQUITIES OP 

THE AUTHOR'S CLAIM 

TO 

THE BREANT CHOLERA PRIZE 

ARE 

PARAMOUNT. 



PREFACE. 

This is no slouch of a book. It is worth its price to any 
man or woman for the information it contains, which can be 
found in no other book. There is a good deal of reading scat- 
tered along through it that will be interesting to everybody, 
especially to those whom it may concern. The style is plain, 
simple, concise and direct— no beating about the bush here. 
There is one page in the book which is worth twenty times its 
price to any physician, and the whole is of greater value to the 
practitioner than larger and more pretentious volumes; in fact, 
as stated in the following pages somewhere, no member of the 
profession— eminent or humble— is fully equipped to practice 
the healing art who is not conversant with the principles of 
medicine and scientific knowledge herein set forth. All physi- 
cians who read the book will admit the truth of that statement, 
because its contents supply a defect in their education. 

The book has then great merit as an educational work, and 
as such wonders will be wrought by it. It is an impossibility to 
demonstrate that the theories propounded by me are erroneous, 
whereas all other theories of the diseases discussed herein have 
been proved to be without basis in observed facts. It is a great 
work then— modestly as it makes the claim— that at one effect- 
ual sweep wipes out all that has ever been written on the subject 
of these diseases. That tickles me hugely; that is something I 
enjoy immensely. Here is my little feeble bantling Gangas- 



PREFACE. 11 

thenia that I have been tending and dandling and taken ont for 
an airing occasionally during the past twenty odd years that 
will suddenly bloom out into full growth and be able bodied 
enough to knock the stuffin' out of all the other ideas ever ad- 
vanced. Oh! yes, my bantling can say to all the authors and 
writers who have produced such a flood of stuff: Carry your 
wares to the junk shop ! Your ideas have been superseded and 
rendered obsolete by me! All hail to Gangasthenia ! Bow 
down your heads ye Eminences and ye Hyas Tyhees and ye 
others of that ilk and acknowledge the supremacy of an idea. 

Most assuredly this is an educational work which will t-^ach 
the people of this country some most valuable truths about the 
nature and treatment of cholera and yellow fever ; it will educate 
congress on these subjects and the law makers will be willing 
to pass a law enacting that those diseases are not due to germs, 
or, which is the same thing, they will pass an act abolishing 
quarantine against them. Then I can point with pride to the 
fact that the science of medicine is actually making some pro- 
gress, not by the discovery of new germs, but by the recognition 
of the fact that those and other diseases are not due to germs. 
Gangasthenia will be victorious and I will triumph then. FoT 
its educational effect and for the great good it will accomplish 
Ihis modest little book may be justly termed a great scientific 
work. 

The reader will observe that the idea conveyed by the title 
is strictly followed on two distinct lines which cross and recross 
each other at various points. The bacterists, it is shown, are still 
at the quest of the germ in the bodies of human beings, while I 
am pursuing the same object in the minds of the bacterists. The 
results of our quests are different. I will have succeeded in 
driving the germ from their minds while they will never succeed 
in finding the object of their quest because it does not exist else- 
where than in their minds. 

There may be one or two solecisms in the book but judicious 



Ill PREFACE. 

persons will overlook them because of my evident modesty, 
sincerity and honesty. It may be objected that my style is not 
dignified. Dignity of this day is due to moral sclerosis of the 
spinal cord or to hypocrisy. I am affected with neither the dis- 
ease nor the vice— accordingly my style is not dignified— so I ac- 
cept the imputation. But never mind the manner of the presen- 
tation but give due consideration to the matter presented. Style 
is nothing and science is everything. Here is science, "There 
is no science unless under certain given conditions we can say 
precisely what will happen: we can predict only when we have 
seen the causal relations. ' ' The reader will note in the follow- 
ing pages that the author makes some predictions. He is en- 
abled to do this because he understands the causal relations of 
disease. 

Eugene H. Wood, M. D. 

National Home, Wis. 

June, 1905. 



SECOND PREFACE. 

It was my intention to publish this book last year, but the 
indifference and poor judgment of publishers and lack of 
funds prevented that consummation. The book contains some 
cotemporaneous allusions which have now become post-tem- 
poraneous. They may stand because the whirligig of time does 
not change the point of view. 

The artist has depicted in the frontispiece the difficulty one 
meets in endeavoring to introduce a new idea to the world. 
I have had experience in such endeavors. In 1901 I published 
a small volume entitled:— "Religion and Authority." In my 
book I defined Authority to be, '^The attributive quality which 
enables its possessors to command the obeyance of those sub- 
ject to them and to enforce their mandates." To the philoso- 
phic mind authority is nothing more, nothing less than the 
idea conveyed by those few words, and yet the world persists 
in its acceptation of its erroneous concept of the nature of 
authority and will so persist for several generations to come. 

I have had other experience in my efforts to enlighten the 
human mind. In 1880 I coined the word " Gangliasthenia " 
and wrote an article on the subject which was published in 
the "Michigan Medical News" of Detroit. Now, after a lapse 
of twenty-five years, I consult the dictionaries in vain to find 
my word. I find indeed every derivative of ganglion but the 
fools who compile dictionaries have omitted the most important 
one, to wit, the word coined by me. They have omitted the 
word which in its profundity and comprehensive significance 
is in itself a valuable contribution to science. Since the word 
is my coinage and as its present orthography does not suit me 
I will elide the syllable "li" from it and I hereby ordain that 
hereafter the word shall be written "Gangasthenia"— and let 
all word-mongers take notice. 

Here is a list of the words derived from the root ganglion : 
Gangliac, Ganglial, Gangliate, Gangliated, Gangliform, Gan- 



11 SECOND PREFACE 

glioform, Ganglionary, Ganglionic, Gangliar, Ganglionated, 
Ganglioblast, Gangiioneura, Ganglioneural, Ganglionitis, Gan- 
gliopathy, Gangliopathic, Ganglions, Ganglionless, Ganglioid, 
Ganglionized. By cancellation we can reduce these twenty 
words to five and by this method relieve the overburdened 
vocabulary of fifteen useless words. Some of these words con- 
vey no rational idea, and some are repetitions. To these five 
add gangasthenia— the most important member of the group— 
and these six will be sufficient for all purposes. 

The medical dictionaries have recognized gangasthenia. 
In Gould's Medical Lexicon (1899) it is defined, "Ganglionic 
asthenia; neurasthenia due to defect of ganglionic function." 

In the American Medical Dictionary gangasthenia is de- 
fined to be, ''Diminished ganglionic nerve power, neuras- 
thenia." The funniest thing about this definition is that it 
is preceded by the letter L in parenthesis to indicate that the 
word is derived from the Latin: whereas it is composed of two 
Greek words, as everybody knows who has any pretensions to 
scholarship. 

These two definitions are defective by reason of their in- 
sufficiency and indefiniteness and this defect needs to be 
remedied in the next editions of those dictionaries. Let it not 
be stated that gangasthenia is neurasthenia, for that does not 
define it. It should be stated that it is the basis of the gan- 
glionic diseases : that it may be local or general, chronic or acute 
and a list of the ganglionic diseases may be added. Also state 
that there are two forms of the condition veno-motor and 
arterio-motor according to the set of motors that are affected 
by the environment. 

Therefore I demand a place for Gangasthenia in the dic- 
tionaries, and I demand that it be given a correct definition, 
otherwise the lexicographers shall hear from me again. 

National Home, Wis. Eugene H. Wood, M. D. 

January 1906. 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

GERMS. 

The quest of the germ continues. It has been going on for 
many years. Germs are numerous, they are found everywhere. 
They are divided into two classes: the nocuous or pathogenic 
or disease producing and the innocuous or non-pathogenic or 
non-producers of disease. There are several genera and num- 
erous species, but the classification is not complete. Few 
persons have any conception of the size of germs. Germs are 
minute but atoms are much more minute. A Frenchman in- 
stituted a comparison to convey an adequate idea of the size of 
an atom. He said that in size an atom was to an orange as an 
orange is to the earth. A germ is larger than an atom and 
some idea of its size may be obtained from this comparison; an 
atom is to a germ as a germ is to a house or to a brewery or to 
St. Paul's cathedral or to Mont Blanc or some other large object. 

There are large collections of germs in some of the labora- 
tories devoted to bacterism, the largest is perhaps in the 
laboratory of the Centripetal Medical university. Let us inquire 
about the matter. 

''Hello! Central! give me the Centripetal Medical universi- 

ty." 

''Hello! Yes. I want Dr. Thingumbob, professor of bac- 
terism. ' ' 

"Hello! Is that Professor Thingumbob?— Yes, well I aan 



10 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



an old physician and I never learned much about germs when 
I attended medical college and I want my son to know all about 
them. I am thinking of sending him to attend your university. 
Are you well equipped for imparting a knowledge of germs?" 

''Yes, we have every appliance needed for the study of 
germs and we have more mounted specimens than exist any- 
where else, so your son, if he comes here, will have opportunities 
for study and advantages for acquainting himself with the 
nature of germs which he can not obtain elsewhere." 

''How many mounted specimens have you?" 

"We have three million nine hundred and seventy-five 
thousand eight hundred and seventy-four. We expect soon to 
reach our fourth million. We have been in pursuit of germs 
for many years and we are still faithfully working at our 
favorite quest, for it is by the discoveries we make and only by 
t^em that the progress of medical science can be noted." 

"I suppose the discovery of a new germ— one hitherto un- 
known—is a source of great rejoicing among such devoted 
scientists. ' ' 

"Yes, indeed. The discovery of a new germ immortalizes 
a man. My own unworthy name has been bestowed by my con- 
freres on one bacterium and on one bacillus." 

"Then I am to understand that you have a microbe which 
you yourself discovered and which you have distinguished by 
the appellation of bacterium Thingumbobii and another which 
you have labeled bacillus Thingumbobii? So your name was be- 
stowed on the germ for the honor of having discovered it and 
it was honored with your name to distinguish it from other 
germs. Professor, I Qongratulate you. You and the germ are 
equally honored and distinguished." 

"Sir! What do you mean?" 

"I mean that I do not believe in the germ theory to the 
same extent that you do and I have no son. I 've " 

Bang! 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 11 



BACTEEISTS. 

It is amusing to observe a lot of bacterists when they 
get together. Each brings his microscope and mounted speci- 
mens and they discuss the difficulties of the quest and proudly 
exhibit to each other the specimens each has captured or ob- 
tained by purchase from or by exchange with other bacterists. 

''Here," says one, ''is a specimen of the comma bacillus 
which I obtained from that eminent man of science Prof. Koch 
himself." And he exhibits a slide on which is mounted a lot 
of the stems of the ciliated epithelium of the bowels. The cilia 
of these have been washed off by the serous discharge from the 
bowels, and when the watery evacuations become profuse the 
mucous membrane is denuded of what remains of the epithelium 
which the tin god of the bacterists gathered from the rice water 
evacuations of choleraic patients and labeling them comma ba- 
cilli assigned to them the function of causing the disease. And 
this is what the fools fondly call science. There is no reasoning 
in this method from cause to effect, but the effect is seized and 
blindly labeled cause. 

"Here," says another, ''is the germ of yellow fever dis- 
covered by Dr. Sanarelli of Brazil and sent to me by that hon- 
ored scientist— specimen prepared and mounted under his own 
supervision. ' ' 

"I beg your pardon," said a second bacterist, "but San- 
arelli did not discover the true germ of yellow fever. My friend 
Dr. Soandso of Brazos had that honor and I show you a speci- 
men of his preparation." 

"But," interposed a third bacterist, "neither Sanarelli, 
nor Soandso, but that celebrated expert on yellow fever, Weiss- 
nichts, who has done so much to extend our knowledge of mi- 
crobes in and around New Orleans. I show a specimen pre- 
pared by him.'* 

Then while they looked and examined they wrangled and 



12 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



could come to no definite conclusion as to which was the true 
germ. 

At this juncture a wise bacterist spoke up and said: **Now 
I will show you the true germ of yellow fever— the real thing 
as discovered by the sole, solitary, and only: by that unique 
and pre-eminent savant— the one living expert on yellow fever 
Dr. Eugene H. Wood. ' ' And he put his slide on the microscope. 
They all took a long look at the slide and when they were 
through they exclaimed as one man: ''And that is the real 
thing!" 

And the exhibitor said, ' ' It is, and we will prove it. ' ' There 
was nothing on the slide. 

MORE ABOUT GERMS. 

A knowledge of the physical nature of germs is being 
gradually acquired by the untiring and steadfast work of the 
bacterists— of course they are paid for their labor and are 
expected to show some returns for the money received. But 
the vast amount of money paid to professional bacterists for 
their services and on account of their researches yields less 
adequate results than that which is derived from the expendi- 
ture of money in any other field of human effort. 

In Chicago recently three prominent bacterists have devoted 
much time and money to experiments as to the longevity of the 
supposed typhoid bacillus in the sewage of that city. The 
prime cause of their operations was to prove that this partic- 
ular bacillus perished in its transit through the waters of the 
drainage canal long before it reached the Mississippi river: 
that it had no chance whatever of surviving the trip to St. 
Louis and of begetting intestinal troubles in the good citizens 
of that place when they swallowed it in the water from the river 
which they drank ; and it was a foregone conclusion that with the 
time, and the money at their disposal and with the appliances 
which they could devise they would be able to establish their 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 13 



premiss. They did it and proved beyond the peradventure of a 
doubt that the supposed typhoid bacillus could live only two days 
in the water of the Chicago river contaminated by Chicago sew- 
age. This result is announced triumphantly, with much rhetori- 
cal flourish and blare of words trumpeting the fame of the dis- 
coverer—a professor in the Midway university. The discovery 
will bring much renown to that institution and will further 
swell the soul of its worthy president with pride. He will 
wave the little rush-light he carries with great glee and will 
fancy that the rays of science thence proceeding will illuminate 
the dark places of the world— instead they do not even pene- 
trate to the benighted corners of Chicago. 

CHICAGO DAMPHOOL REPORTER. 

The writer of the article announcing this discovery states 
that it is one "whose results will entail important and lasting 
benefits to medical science"; that it will be added "to the 
book of science" (what book is that?) "the most authentic 
annals of all things mundane" : that "no such important bacter- 
iological experiments have been made" (what? never?) "as 
those whose results have led to the discovery." 

If this is amusing it becomes extremely funny when we 
find the reporter, in the exuberance of his fancy, attributing 
moral and other qualities to this supposed typhoid bacillus by 
characterizing it as "treacherous," "sinister," "deadly and 
dastardly," "malignant and hateful," "dangerous," "squirm- 
ing, wiggling, bob-tailed," "'scoundrelly." Where? oh! where 
was the editor's blue pencil? 

The article referred to appeared in "The Chicago Chron- 
icle" of Sunday, Feb. 14th, 1903. It is not surprising that the 
reporter or space-writer was allowed to deliver himself of so 
much nonsense, for the Chicago Sunday papers are engaged in 
a most strenuous rivalry as to which shall furnish and inflict 
upon the patient and long-suffering people of the city of 
grouches and grafters the largest amount of sludge for a nickel. 



14 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



FACTS ABOUT THE TYPHOID BACILLUS. 

Now as a matter of fact it has been noted as the result 
of clinical observation and necroscopic examination that cases 
of typhoid fever occur in which there are no characteristic mani- 
festations of the disease ; that cases of typhoid fever occur which 
on post mortem examination do not show the typical lesion of 
the disease. Further, it is emphasized by a prominent bacterist 
that typhoid bacilli may develop in the intestines of an indi- 
vidual and pass from the same without causing typhoid fever 
and that an individual may become the bearer and distributer 
of the infective agent without being himself infected. The 
bacterists account for these anomalous proceedings by the enun- 
ciation of a sophistical principle that infection does not infect 
unless the vitality of the individual has been reduced to the 
point of least resistance. And, pray Messieurs Bacterists, does 
this principle apply to the infection of smallpox, scarlatina, 
measles, diptheria or any of the truly infectious diseases? 

It appears then that typhoid fever may occur and no ba- 
cillus be present in the blood or discharges of the person as a 
cause of the disease ! that the bacilli may be present and pass 
away without infecting the individual : that the fever may occur 
and the individual may die and necroscopy reveals no typical 
lesion of the disease. Hence it is possible, nay it is highly prob- 
able that typhoid fever is not caused by the so called typhoid 
bacillus, but by some autogenic virus the nature and action of 
which has not been ascertained. 

There are occasional local epidemics of what is termed 
typhoid fever in this country. And these are usually traced 
to contaminated water supply. In view of the well known in- 
ability of the bacterists to diagnosticate between typhus and 
typhoid fevers, and of the preceding facts it is very probable 
that the water supply may be contaminated by some poison of a 
vegetable or animal origin sufficiently virulent in its nature to 
cause a fever analagous to typhoid and mistakenly recognized 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 15 



as that disease. Even though the typhoid baeillns may be found 
in the water it is illogical for a scientific person to attribute 
such epidemics to that cause— but not for the bacterists, for, 
they are nothing if not illogical. 

If these conclusions are correct — and the author considers 
that they are unassailable then the hulla-balloo about the 
typhoid bacillus in Chicago and St. Louis is based on a figment 
and the people of St. Louis may as well relinquish all concern 
about the contamination of the water of the ]\Iississippi river 
by the waters of the Chicago drainage canal. They will doubt- 
less adopt this view, moved thereto by the scientific opinions 
herein presented by the author, who though not recognized as 
such is the only living expert on certain medical questions 
which require for their solution mental acumen, perspicacity and 
profundity of thought. 

If the officials in Chicago had consulted the author, as an 
expert, on the question which has bothered them so much and 
has caused so much expense to them he would have settled the 
matter some time ago. The citizens of St. Louis will not worry 
about the dangers liable to spring from the imbibition of Llissis- 
sippi water when they read the opinions herein set forth. They 
have the author's permission to publish the opinion for the 
benefit of the numerous visitors to the Exposition. The author 
also gratuitously gives notice that if any ^dsitor apprehends that 
Mississippi water is dangerous to health he will find an anti- 
dote to all germs which it may contain in a remedy well known 
to all and sundry the citizens of St. Louis, to wit, St. Louis 
whisky. 

COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH REYNOLDS. 

The Health Commissioner of Chicago is a most efficient 
officer, and he has his own troubles with the germs in his juris- 
diction. The pneumococcus and the typhoid bacillus v/orry 
him most. In the summer of 1902 there was an epidemic of 
fever on the west side in the district known as the Ghetto. 



16 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



Disease always lurks where people are ill-fed, ill-clad and ill- 
housed. This was the case with the majority in that district. 
But there was the deadly germ in the water. So the Health 
Officer inserted in all the newspapers a monitory notice ad- 
dressed to all the people in Chicago : ' ' Boil the water ! ' ' Then he 
hoisted the black flag over all the pumping stations along the 
lake front. He kept them flying all summer. Death lurked in 
the water, and he was doing his duty in warning the people. 
He experiences much satisfaction with himself when he does 
his duty and combats the deadly germ. One day he sent three 
inspectors to the west side. One carried a two-quart sprinkler 
containing kerosene; one carried a notebook; the third had 
nothing to carry. They were instructed to examine the fruit 
for sale on the stands and in the stores; germs settle on de- 
caying fruit and if they found any such they were directed to 
sprinkle the kerosene over it and render it unfit for consump- 
tion. The inspectors found some cases of spoiled fruit and 
some bunches of decaying bananas. These they condemned and 
the kerosene was duly applied to them. The man with the note- 
book recorded their action and next day a full account of their 
proceedings was published in all the newspapers with com- 
mendatory remarks on the efficiency of the Health Officer, and 
his corps of inspectors whose energy and activity and bright 
intelligence are unsurpassible. It is through this well trained 
body of officers that he carries on his warfare against germs, 
while he sits in his office and dictates a weekly essay to his 
typewriter on the prevalence of germs and the methods used to 
exterminate them which is published in the daily papers regu- 
larly on Monday morning. In these dissertations he descants 
on the state of the weather. Does a fall of soft, wet snow 
take place he congratulates the people on the fact that the large 
flakes as they descend carry with them to the earth all the 
germs in the air and he announces that the atmosphere has 
been cleared of them. A cold wave strikes the city and he comes 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 17 



out with an extra bulletin advising all citizens to : " 'Ware the 
deadly pnenmoeoccus ? " No such thing. He advises them to 
avoid draughts and exposure to cold. Yet he knows as all bac- 
terists know that the pneumococcus is the cause of pneumonia 
and that it is an infectious disease. Why then does he not 
warn the people to avoid this ' ' treacherous, " ' ' sinister, " " dead- 
ly and dastardly," "malignant and hateful," ''scoundrelly," 
"squirming, wiggling, bob-tailed" germ— the pneumococcus? 
Does he not know that this is a wise and wary bird, and that 
when the large wet soft flakes of snow begin to fall it gets under 
cover and ensconces itself in dry and safe nooks and corners, 
whence it watches the passers by upon the streets and when it 
discovers an individual whose vitality has been reduced to the 
point of least resistance a colony of these germs beset him and 
are drawn by inhalation into his lungs— and presto ! that condi- 
tion of things is set up which is recognized as pneumonia? The 
pneumococcus understands his business and he can circumvent 
all the health officers in creation and is liveliest and gets in his 
deadliest work in midwinter when the weather is coldest, when 
the wind is bleakest and bitterest. No exotic creature this, 
like the yellow fever germ which the first frost untimely nips. 
The pneumococcus is the hardiest and most vigorous of germs 
and fairly riots in the coldest climates. It revels in Alaska and in 
far off St. Petersburg. It delights to ravage large cities like 
New York and Boston and Chicago. Well may Commissioner 
Reynolds apply that metaphorical title: "The New Captain of 
the Men of Death" to pneumonia. It is appropriate. Mean- 
while the pneumococcus enjoys its proud pre-eminence as be- 
ing more destructive to human life than its cousin germane the 
bacillus tuberculosis, and laughs with scorn at the futile efforts 
made by health officers with their bulletins and warnings to 
stay its devastating ravages among the children of men by 
which not only infants and aged but those in the prime of life 
are carried to the grave. 



18 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



VIEWS OF PHYSICIANS. 

Meanwhile what are the health officers doing to check the de- 
struction of human life by this devilish germ? Oh! they issue 
bulletins about the mortality from pneumonia and make com- 
parisons between the number of deaths from this disease last 
week and last month and the corresponding periods last year 
and the year before, and the previous year and, the preceding 
year and so on; and they add greatly to statistical information 
thereby but not an iota to medical knowledge. There is a great 
sameness about these bulletins and a great lack of originality, 
but they have a certain value — chiefly to the health officer, for 
thereby he earns his salary. 

And they actually have the gall— these health officers, pre- 
sumably intelligent men to declare that "pneumonia is an in- 
fectious disease ! " So blinded are these bacterists by the absurd 
dogmas evolved by themselves in regard to germs that it is im- 
possible for them to take or entertain rational views of any 
disease. The fundamental principle has been adopted that all 
diseases are caused by germs, and they are striving to prove 
this absurd notion to be correct by inconsistencies and sophisti- 
cations the like of which can be found nowhere else in any pro- 
ductions of the human mind except in the speeches of Wm. J. 
Bryan. 

A fool doctor up in Madison, Wis., has recently advanced 
the idea, ' ' made the astounding declaration ' ' that appendicitis is 
of microbic origin and that it is contagious. About the same 
time another fool doctor, before the Academy of ]\Iedicine in 
Paris stated ''that it was the abuse of meat diet which was the 
cause of appendicitis." Per contra, a surgeon in Seattle re- 
ports that he operated in two cases of appendicitis and found 
in each appendix removed a single bird shot, supposedly swal- 
lowed by the patients when eating game. Here are two theories 
based on the products of irrational imaginations and the ground- 
work of a third which has for its basis the logical deductions 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 19 

to be drawn from a correct observation of physical facts. The 
bacterists will accept the first theory— will swallow it whole and 
never wink an eye. Those may follow them who will. 

Xow we will suppose a patient to be sick with pneumonia, 
lying on a bed in his room at his home. According to the germ 
theory his every exhalation carries forth from his lungs, where 
they breed with great rapidity, several millions, more or less, of 
full fledged pneumococci, into the atmosphere of that room, 
where they float around until the air is super-saturated with 
them. Xow admit into that room, one by one, a dozen or five 
hundred persons — non-immune to pneumonia and how many of 
the dozen or of the five hundred who had been admitted to that 
room and had breathed that germ-laden air would be infected 
with pneumonia? Not one. 

Now take the case of a man with smallpox under like con- 
ditions and admit a dozen or five hundred non-irmnune persons 
to his room under like circumstances and how many of the dozen 
or five hundred would be infected with smallpox? Every one. 
Common sense, reason, human experience and science all unite 
in declaring that if such experiments could or might be made 
the results would be as stated and no man may gainsay the 
conclusion to be drawn from the suppositious experiments: — 
that pneumonia is not a contagious disease and those who would 
classify it as such are fools. 

The germ theory is responsible for the excessive mortality 
of pneumonia. It is very gravely stated in the medical text- 
books of the day that "the pneumococcus is the cause of pneu- 
monia." In fact that is the opening sentence of the chapter on 
"Pneumonia" in a certain textbook which has come under the 
author 's notice. The principles of etiology are utterly subverted 
by such pronouncements as this. The teachers in the schools 
are men who have been indoctrinated with the dogmas of the 
bacterists and of course they teach the same idea to their pupils. 
The result is that the physicians of this generation absolutely 



20 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



do not know liow to treat pneumonia and the consequence is 
that most pneumonic patients die. 

FALSE TEACHING. 

One of the chief features of the modern teaching is that 
there is a natural crisis to the disease. If the physician attend- 
ing a pneumonic patient is asked what prospect he has of re- 
covery he replies: ''It is impossible to tell at this stage of the 
disease. The crisis occurs from the seventh to the ninth day 
and when that occurs then—" What then? "YvHiy if the pa- 
tient takes a turn for the better he will recover and if not — " 
When an attending physician begins to talk about waiting for the 
crisis in any case of pneumonia the friends of the patient may 
as well make up their minds that the crisis will be death. There 
is no natural crisis to the disease and the physician who under- 
stands how to treat pneumonia will create an artificial crisis by 
his treatment, so that on the fifth day his patient will be on the 
road to recovery instead of pursuing his journey on the path 
which leads to the dark and narrow valley of the shadow of 
death, whence there is no return. 

In the author's hands pneumonia has been more amenable 
to treatment than any other disease, for in the more than forty 
years of his practice he never lost a patient by death from that 
cause, and he has treated many cases ; some of double pneu- 
monia and one case which was complicated with parturition. In 
that case the mother made a prompt and rapid recovery and the 
child sufi^ered no set-back. In another case the patient had 
had two previous attacks of pneumonia, and the author predicted 
that when his patient recovered from this his third attack he 
V70uld remark that his recovery was quicker and found him in 
better condition than when he got over his two previous attacks. 
Tlie patient did make remarks to that effect which were very 
gratifying to his attending physician. A fourth attack of pneu- 
monia carried of this patient at a place which was unfortunately 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 21 



too distant from the author's residence to permit his being sum- 
moned. 

PNEUMONIA— A CASE. 

A chapter from the author's experience will illustrate some 
points, and he will narrate it in the first person. 

Sam Bisbee, a farmer living a mile and a half from town 
was taken sick in March a few years ago and, as he knew that 
I had about given up practice, he sent for Dr. Forsyth, a young 
man, a recent graduate who had just opened an office in the 
village. The doctor came and examined the sick man. 

''What's the matter with me?" asked Sam. 

"You have pneumonia— in fact double pneumonia, for por- 
tions of both lungs are affected," replied the doctor. 

' ' What is the cause of pneumonia ? ' ' was Sam 's next query. 

''The recognized cause of pneumonia is a microbe the name 
of which is the pneumococcus, " answered the doctor. 

"That'll do," exclaimed Sam. "No damned doctor that 
believes that a damned pneumococcus is the cause of pneumonia 
can doctor me. Here Mary, ' ' he said to his wife, ' ' pay the doc- 
tor for his visit and let him go." Mary did as she was bid 
and the doctor returned to town. 

Sam. next sent for Dr.' Sampson, a young man of a year or 
two's practice. When he came he examined the sick man and 
the foregoing colloquy was repeated with the result that when 
he also stated that the pneumococcus was the cause of pneu- 
monia Sam directed that he should be paid for his visit and he 
too departed. Sam told me about these things afterward 
Then Sam said to his wife: "Send and fetch the old doctor" — 
meaning me. I came and when I had examined the sick man 
I told him that he had double pneumonia. 

"What is the cause of pneumonia, anyway, doc?" Sam 
asked. In the familiarity engendered of a country practice 
among country people they have become accustomed to elide half 



22 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

of the physician's title and usually address him with an en- 
dearing frankness as "doc" I am used to the abbreviated title 
and so I answered: 

"Yesterday you were out in your clearing, as you told me. 
You chopped with your coat off and worked up a fine perspira- 
tion. You saw Frank Jones passing along and hailed him. 
He stopped and you went out to the road to talk with him about 
business. You stood there in the March wind without your 
coat on until you were chilled. You simply caught a severe cold 
and it has settled on your lungs. ' ' 

"Eight you are," exclaimed Sam, "and no damned pneu- 
mococcus has nothing to do with it?" 

" 'Not if the court knows, herself and she think she do,' " 
said I. 

"That's all right. Take hold and begin your treatment," 
said Sam. Which I did with despatch for Sam's case brooked 
no delay. 

"Furthermore," I said to Sam, "my boy, it was a lucky 
thing for you that you sent for me. I will bring you through 
with flying colors. ' ' And I was as good as my word. I tackled 
him like a house afire. Sam's house— the earthty tabernacle in 
which he dwelt— was literally on fire, inflamed (flamma, a flame) 
and it was necessary to put it out. I did not turn on the garden 
hose, but sent in an alarm and brought the fire engines into 
play. I did not adopt the "expectant" plan and wait for a 
crisis, but I created a crisis by the specific method of treatment 
which I have employed in all my cases from the first one to 
the last. The crisis came, as wrought by the method on the 
fifth day— the in-flamma-tion was subdued, smothered, put out 
and Sam was on the road to recovery and he reached that sta- 
tion on the road in due time. 

I have seen it stated in the papers that P. B. M. Widener, 
a multi-millionaire of Philadelphia paid to his physician, as an 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 23 



houorariiim for bringing him safely through an attack of double 
pneLinionia the sum of $800,000. Sam's case netted me just 
$15.00. Circumstances alter cases. 

THE POINTS. 

The points which the author desires to emphasize are : that 
the pneumococcus is not the cause of pneumonia : that it is not an 
infectious disease: that there is no natural crisis in the disease: 
that the excessive mortality of pneumonia is due to the fact that 
physicians generally are ignorant on these points and do not 
know how to treat the disease properly. The expectant plan 
of treatment was introduced many years ago, and is still in 
vogue. In pneumonia the doctors expect a crisis and until it 
comes they twiddle their thumbs and look wise and talk learnedly 
and do something which accomplishes nothing. Meanwhile the 
air cells of the lungs are filling up and its tissue is becoming 
solidified— hepatized— and irreparable damage has been done. 
The doctors continue to tiddliewink with the disease and treat 
the heart or the liver or the bowels or the stomach and keep the 
patient's vitality up by forcing him to partake of strong food 
and leave the lung alone. But the lung is the only organ con- 
cerned in the trouble and the disease must be combated at its 
very onset, for it is in the first, second and third days that the 
chief harm to the lung is done; what follows are the results of 
the inflammation allowed to proceed unchecked during the first 
few days of its progress. 



Shall the author outline his method of procedure? It is 
the duty of members of the medical profession to publish for the 
benefit of mankind and for the advantage of the medical fratern- 
ity such notable discoveries in medical science as they may 
make. It is made obligatory on them by the terms of the Escu- 
lapian oath and by the rules of the code of ethics to which all 



24 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



physicians are supposed to have subscribed and by which all are 
supposed to be bound. The honor and the fame which spring 
from such discoveries are regarded as a sufficient reward to 
those who light upon them and make them known. Honor and 
fame are very unsubstantial things and do not supply physical 
needs. So it has come to pass in these days of commercialism 
and individualism that the physician who make6 a discovery of 
any importance keeps it to himself and seeks to absorb all the 
profit which might thence arise. Which means that individ- 
ualism is the note of the medical profession of today. Eegard- 
less of loving cups and banquets that is the prevalent note among 
physicians of this day and generation, and it pervades them in 
a more concrete and inveterate form than it does any other class 
of the social organization. 

The author is financially a poor man, he has endured many of 
the toils and received but few of the rewards of professional life. 
Now he is stranded at the National Home in Milwaukee, a par- 
taker of the hospitable provision made for him and other old 
soldiers by the bounty of our generous Uncle Sam. He takes 
much interest in reading the newspapers and the items which 
particularly attract his attention are the obituary records. He 
reads these to note especially the cause of death and the age of 
the deceased and he finds many notices in which pneumonia is 
given as the cause. He reads of many cases in which young 
persons just entering manhood or womanhood are smitten and 
die. He reads of prominent men in the prime of life who are 
seized by pneumonia and carried off from fields of eminent use- 
fulness. He reads of strong men in the vigor of manhood who 
succumb to the disease and of healthy women who yield up 
their lives to this fell destroyer. He reads about the very aged 
who are stricken. With impaired vitality there is small hope 
for the old. But for all between the ages of three and seventy 
he sees no reason why the great majority should not recover. 
He reads about the ravages of pneumonia in the large cities and 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 25 



laments his inability to do anything to stay the tide of death. 
Sometimes he laments almost as personal loss some death; as 
once he read of a beautiful young woman in Chicago, who a 
little while before her wedding day was attacked by pneumonia 
and died in a few days and for burial was enwrapped in the 
gown which she would have worn at her wedding. Then he re- 
greted that he might not have been summoned to attend her and 
might not have had the great happiness of conducting her along 
the road that leads to the station of recovery. But all regrets 
are vain. He m^ight yet do something for the benefit of human- 
ity. He believes that if his method of treating pneumonia were 
generally understood by physicians and commonly employed by 
them in the treatment of their pneumonic patients the mortality 
from this cause in this country would be reduced one-half — per- 
haps more. This consideration alone ought to induce him to 
publish his method and he has had in mind for some years the 
preparation of a volume to be entitled: "Pneumonia, A Mono- 
graph." The book is all planned. There would be a historical 
sketch of the different methods practiced in the treatment of 
the disease from the beginning of the last century down to the 
proposed serumtherapy of recent date— which the author re- 
gards as a particularly absurd proposition. This would be a 
most interesting chapter— the old methods being arranged in 
chronological order. The author's method would follow in de- 
tail with recorded cases that had been treated according to it. 
But this is a dream. He does not possess means sufficient to 
accomplish this purpose, however laudable, and people must 
continue to die of pneumonia in spite of the fact that he 
possesses knowledge, which if rendered available to physicians 
by the proposed publication would be the means of saving many 
valuable lives from the clutches of the dread destroyer— Pneu- 
monia. 

DIFFICULTIES. 

The difficulties in the way of the publication of such a book 



26 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

and of the spread of the views and methods it might contain, by 
its extensive sale might be surmounted. But the difficulties in 
the way of the adoption of those views and of those methods by 
medical men generally the author deems to be insurmountable. 
It is a difficult matter to eradicate old views from the minds of 
mankind, and it would be more difficult to induce physicians to 
relinquish methods of practice with which they were familiar 
and adopt new plans of treatment. The author knows whereof he 
speaks for he has had experience in trying to enlighten the minds 
of medical men and he has found them ' ' dreadful sot ' ' in their 
ways. Some twenty years ago he made two important dis- 
coveries in medicine, accounts of which he set forth with partic- 
ularity in several articles which were printed in a medical 
journal published in Detroit. The author deemed those two 
discoveries to be the most important of the age and holds that 
opinion today. But what was the result? His discoveries fell 
flat and are now buried in oblivion. No physician recognired 
the value of these discoveries and today they are unknown to 
the younger generation of medical men. And yet those two 
discoveries embody the most valuable addition made to medical 
knowledge in a quarter of a century. They ought to have 
placed the author on the tipmost topmost heights of the pinnacle 
of fame and given him honor, money galore and troops of friends. 
Instead he finds himself a member of the Soldier 's Home and his 
only resource is the small pension allowed him by Uncle Sam. 
Shall he die here "to fortune and to fame unknown, unwept, 
unhonored, and unsung?" Not if he can help himself. He 
intends to resuscitate his discoveries and present them in new 
form to the world of science. He intends to strive, old as he 
is, for that recognition of his discoveries which he knows they 
merit. He is impelled by every sentiment of his nature to con- 
tinue the pursuit of that splendid reward which he knows he 
deserves as the legitimate award to be made to the scientific 
merits of his discoveries and which prize he is absolutely certain 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



he is entitled to receive as the solver of those medical problems 
for the solution of which the prize was offered. The first step 
in that direction is this book in which he attempts to controvert 
some of the ideas of the bacterists. 

THE BREANT PRIZE. 

In 1846 the cholera prevailed in Paris, France, and caused 
the death of many thousand persons. A M. Breant, a man of 
considerable wealth, lost his entire family in the epidemic. He 
was appalled by his loss and in order to stimulate research into 
the nature of cholera with a view to provide means to prevent 
such terrible calamities in the future, he provided in his will that 
the sum of eight hundred thousand francs should be held in 
trust by the Academy of Sciences in Paris and he directed that 
the sum should constitute a prize to be awarded to the person 
who would discover the cause or nature of Asiatic cholera or a 
remedy which would cure it in the immense majority of cases. 
M. Breant died in 1849, and the sum thus set apart passed into 
the charge of the Academy of Sciences and has been held by 
that institution ever since, or say fifty-five years. jMany persons 
have claimed the prize but it has not been awarded to any of 
the numerous claimants. Prof. Koch did not obtain it for his 
alleged discovery of the comma bacillus as the alleged cause 
of cholera and this fact places Koch's alleged discovery 
on the practical footing where it belongs as of no scientific or 
other value whatever. Notwithstanding which Koch's fame has 
been trumpeted in every quarter of the globe. The author filed 
his claim to the Breant cholera prize in 1878 and he is as con- 
fident as a human being can be of any mental conclusion arrived 
at by observation ratiocination and experiment that he has ful- 
filled the requirements necessary to establish his title to tho 
prize in that he has indicated the true nature of Asiatic cholera 
and has pointed out a remedy which will cure it in the immense 
majority of cases. But the correctness of his theory, though 



28 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



rationally sound, lacks confirmation and the specific nature of 
the proposed remedy lacks demonstration on a large scale, say 
in a country in which cholera might be prevalent among a people 
or in a city in an epidemic form. Only under such circum- 
stances would it be possible to prove that the alleged specific was 
efficacious "in the immense majority of cases." The author 
has not at any time in his life possessed the necessary funds to 
enable him to purchase a sufficient quantity of the specific and to 
pay his expenses in visiting such country and there make the re- 
quired demonstration which would establish his title to the 
Breant cholera prize. 

He has solicited the aid of wealthy persons, and of influential 
journals. He has written to American ambassadors, ministers 
and consuls in those countries in which cholera prevailed epidem- 
ically. He has appealed to government for help to enable him 
to establish the truth of his theory and to prove a clear title to 
the prize. But he has obtained no assistance from any source 
whatever. He has carried on the struggle unaided. He has 
stood alone and stands thus today, unsupported in his efforts by 
even a word of recognition from a single physician. He wrote 
a communication on the subject to Governor Taft in the Philip- 
pine Islands which was referred to Major E. E. Carter, commis- 
sioner of health, and that official attempted a joke at the author's 
expense. Among the different communications referred to Com- 
missioner Carter was one from a St. Paul physician, accompanied 
by some printed matter, in which was set forth the theory that 
cholera was caused by something which acted as arsenic acts on 
the human system and the originator of the theory had con- 
ceived the idea that in accordance with the doctrine of sim- 
ilia similibus arsenic was the specific for cholera. The method 
of its administration was to be by a process termed Arsen- 
ization, which was described to be the application of minute por- 
tions of the drug upon the slightly incised surface of the arm 
after the manner of applying vaccine virus. This process it was 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 29 



asserted Avould render its subjects immune to cholera. The 
originator of this process offered his services to Governor Taft 
for the purpose of rendering the American soldiers in the islands 
immune to cholera and they were declined. But Major Carter 
conceived that here was too good an opportunity to perpetrate 
a practical joke, at the author's expense, to let slip. On the 
principle of similia similibus, which he rendered '4ike things 
to like," he sent the St. Paul physician's letter and printed 
matter to the author, "respectfully referring" the same to him. 
The point of the joke as Major Carter intended it to be and as 
the author understood it to be, was that Major Carter ''referred" 
the lucubrations of one crank to a person whom he considered 
to be another or "like to like." A joke over which there is no 
doubt the Major and his confreres enjoyed many a hearty guffaw, 
and his Excellency perhaps even condescended to relax his dig- 
nity and smile at the refined wit of his subordinates. Since then 
the Major has referred no other matter to the author, because by 
the next mail he received from him a letter containing such a 
severe verbal castigation that he will not soon forget. 

The author first wrote to Governor Taft in the summer of 
1901, and suggested that he should cable for two tons of the 
specific for cholera. The next season more than sixty thousand 
persons died of the disease in the islands. The sum of $50,000 
was appropriated by the Philippine government to be expended 
in efforts to extirpate the cholera, and for all the good the 
money did it might just as well have been cast into the deepest 
part of Manila bay. One-tenth of that sum would have sufficed 
to carry out the author's suggestions and this amount expended, 
as he advised, would have been the means of saving the lives of 
all or of nearly all who perished from the disease. The chief 
justice of the supreme court in the islands was one of the vic- 
tims. When the author read a dispatch announcing this death 
his righteous indignation was aroused and he wrote to Governor 
Taft vituperating the miserable stupidity of medical men, who 



30 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



when an actual specific for cholera had been pointed out to them 
neglected to use it and thus allowed their choleraic patients to 
die. The Governor paid no attention whatever to any of the 
author's communications and referred them to the commissioner 
of health with the result noted above; which shows that Major 
Carter considered anything emanating from the author as the 
work of a crank. 

The ideas of a crank to obtain recognition, as the measure 
of their success, must show results— a crank in this connection 
meaning a person who has ideas which are different from those 
of other people. In that sense the author pleads guilty of being 
a crank. He recognized the erroneousness of many views con- 
tained in medical works. In fact he found many such books, 
written by men of eminence, whose names bore as suffixes numer- 
ous letters showing that various literary and other honors had 
been bestowed upon them, to be full of errors. He has an anti- 
pathy to medical error, and likes to combat it. The proper way 
to meet it and overcome it, is to present in opposition to it a de- 
monstrable truth. In the course of his studies and observations 
he became convinced that the germ theory of many diseases was 
erroneous and he discovered that the underlying condition of 
those diseases was a change in the ganglionic nerves, and he 
coined the term, Gangasthenia to denote this condition— and 
from this as a basis evolved the ganglionic theory of disease. 
He wrote an article on gangasthenia and voiced his views in no 
uncertain terms. The article was said by the editor of the 
journal, in which it appeared, to have been written in vigorous 
English; to have sustained the position logically; and that its 
positive utterances vested the general subject with additional in- 
terest. But it has passed into temporary oblivion. The germ 
theory holds sway over the minds of nearly all mankind. But 
it is erroneous to apply it to those diseases which are of gan- 
glionic origin, and it is demonstrable that there are such diseases. 
So the combat is resumed where it left off twenty odd years ago. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 31 



The battle is between Gangasthenia and Bacterism. The old 
knight shies his visor into the arena and calls on his disciples to 
rally to his standard in the name of Truth versus Error. We 
will carry our fight into the ranks of the Bacterists and engage 
them on their own grounds and rout them, horse, foot and dra- 
goons—if we can. The word is " do or die. ' ' 

SECOND DISCOVERY. 

The other discovery made by the author is that bromide 
of ammonium possesses therapeutic virtues which were prev- 
iously unknown and that it is a specific remedy for the afore- 
said condition, designated by him as gangasthenia, from vfhich 
he evolved the ganglionic theory of certain diseases. He pointed 
out in an article on the subject that bromide of ammonium 
possessed medical properties which made it applicable in a 
much wider range in the treatment of disease than that in which 
it had hitherto been used: he showed in fact that it was a 
prompt, reliable efficacious medicinal agent: that when admin- 
istered for the only condition to which it was applicable the 
results were always certain, surprising and gratifying to the 
practitioner. These conclusions were drawn from frequent ob- 
servations of its effects when used by the author both tenta- 
tively and from practical knowledge of its action during a num- 
ber of years, prior to the time when he gave the results of his 
experience to the public. And he gave those experiences freely, 
willingly, gladly, under his obligation to duty as a physician, 
rejoicing that he could contribute his mite to the vast hoard 
of human knowledge, gratified that he could do something that 
would help to relieve human suffering and save human lives 
from perishing by disease. 

The discovery in regard to bromide of ammonium by the 
author was that its use was indicated by the following symp- 
toms: Frontal headache, suffusion and blurring of the eyes 
(asthenopia), soreness of the upper eyelids, lachrymation, ptosis 
or con^ailsive closure of the eyes due to paresis of levatores pal- 



32 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



pebrariun, a sense of swollenness or bulging in the eyes ( ex- 
op thalmos), a wavering dilatation of the pupil, injected and 
ieteroid conjunctivae, excessive sweating, sleeplessness, disagree- 
able dreams (phantasmagoria), anorexia, nausea, vomiting and 
retching, stiffness of fingers, numbness, swollenness and sweat- 
ing of hands, blue or other abnormal color under finger-nails, 
capillary congestion of hands, pain in nape of neck, running 
up and into the occiput, pain in shoulders, elbows and knees, 
pain at sacro-spinal junction, (lame back), a sense of weariness 
(muscular debility) or pain, or pain with spasm, (cramps) in 
the calves of the legs, pain between shoulders or under scapulae, 
any degree of coolness of hands or feet appreciable by the normal 
sense of calorie, oedema of feet and ankles, congestive intestinal, 
uterine, renal, gastric and pulmonic hemorrhages, despondency 
and irascibility, lassitude, languor, listlessness or weariness, hy- 
perthemy and hypothermy, hopelessness (acute form-apathy), 
drowsiness in the day time, atonic voice, tinnitus aurium due 
to congestion of the labyrinth, pulse slow or threadlike, a sense 
of chillness and a sense of constriction around the chest. 

At first glance this seems a formidable array of symptoms 
for one medicine alone and single-handed, as it were to grapple 
with and overcome. But when these evidences of disease are 
rightly interpreted they are found to be nothing more nothing 
less than symptoms of passive congestion and signs of gan- 
gasthenia. 

There is no principle of medicine which ought to have 
greater weight with the honorable physician than that time-hon- 
ored maxim: Ohsta principiis,— resist the beginnings— of disease. 
And it is at the very onset of a congestive disease, in the pro- 
dromic stage, during the mild symptoms, before the severe stage 
is developed that bromide of ammonium is to be administered 
in order to avert or arrest its course. It is in this stage that 
its surprising, almost magical efficacy is manifested. This is a 
medicine with whose use everyone ought to be familiar avd it 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 33 



ought to be kept as a household remedy ready for use in all 
cases when incipient s^nnptoms of disease appear. 

HOW THE DISCOVERY W^AS TREATED. 

There is published in this country a work entitled: "The 
United States Medical Dispensatory." It is a thesaurus of in- 
formation in regard to the natural history, chemical nature, 
medical properties and uses of all substances that are used as 
medicines. A copy of this work may be found in every drug 
store in the land where it is kept for reference. It is more 
frequently consulted by physicians for information than any 
other book published on medical science. From time to time 
new editions of the work are issued as the numerous additions 
to knowledge and discoveries of new remedies made by scien- 
tific physicians and published by them in the journals of the 
day render such editions necessary. From these sources the 
editors have compiled the Dispensatory for it is largely a com- 
pilation of the results of the work and observations of the num- 
erous writers who contribute to the medical and other journals 
published in this and foreign countries. The volume has in- 
creased in size with each successive edition until now it has 
quadrupled the size of the original issue and contains many 
more times the matter than was contained in the first edition; 
so that it has become in consequence of its many accretions a 
bulky ahnost unweildy volume. Much has been added that is of 
no practical value whatever: much has been added that might 
better have been omitted: much has been left out that would 
have given greater value to the work and which therefore ought 
to have been admitted. In this last category the author places 
his discovery of the medical properties and uses of bromide of 
ammonium. This discovery was published in 1880 and though 
two or three new editions of the Dispensatory have been issued 
since then none of them contains a word of reference to his 
discovery. He therefore arraigns the editors of the Dispensa- 
tory as recreant to their trust as the purveyors of information 



34 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



of value to medical men: as untrue to the confidence reposed 
in them that they will furn'ish to the profession all important, 
discoveries in medical science : and as false to their obligations 
to science and he leaves them to the general judgment of his 
medical brethren. 

The point which the author desires to make by the recital 
of the foregoing facts is that two important discoveries made 
by him and published for the benefit of suffering humanity 
everywhere have failed to receive that just recognition to which 
their value and importance entitle them: that in consequence 
the Breant Cholera Prize which justly belongs to him has been 
withheld from him for twenty-six years and he sees no prospect 
of its ever being awarded to him. Therefore he fe^s perfectly 
justified on account of the neglect, contempt and scorn heaped 
on him by those who had it in their power to aid him to a realiza- 
tion of his hopes and expectations about that prize to refrain 
from making known his specific method for the treatment of 
pneumonia. That is one reason. Another is that if he had 
published it years ago it would now be forgotten and if he were 
to publish it now it would not supercede the methods at present 
in vogue, worthless, as those methods have proved to be. It is 
difficult to rid the minds of men of ideas with which they have 
become imbued during pupilage. They cling to those ideas 
through life. The idea of a crisis in pneumonia goes hand-in- 
hand with the idea of the pneumococcus as its alleged cause. 
Abolish these ideas, return to the old etiology and the old pathol- 
oly which were in vogue before the pneumococcus was pitched 
upon as the alleged cause of pneumonia, and there might be 
some slight chance that the author's method would be generally 
adopted for the treatment of the disease. But the teaching of 
the last thirty years would have to be got rid of first before that 
method would have that slight chance of being adopted and 
you can not wipe ideas out of the mind as easily as you can 
figures off a slate with a wet sponge. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 35 



JOHX D. MIGHT. 

There is one condition upon which the author would dis- 
close his method. Let some wealthy man institute a prize to be 
awarded to the person who would prescribe the method which 
by actual test gave the best results in the treatment of pneu- 
monia. For instance there is Tom Lipton who has spent a 
million or more to recapture the America's cup. "Well, it isn't 
worth the money. Perhaps he got value received in the handle 
to his name. But he would be a wiser man if he would set 
apart some of his money as a prize according to the preceding 
suggestion. Or there is John D. Rockefeller, who has so much 
money that he does not know what to do with it. He lost a 
grandchild by scarlatina. That touched his sympathies and 
forthwith he established a hospital for scarlet fever patients 
and in connection he built a laboratory for the bacteriological 
study of the disease. It is a wise investment. John D. Rocke- 
feller has never been known to invest money unwisely, but it 
is doubtful if he will institute the prize suggested by the author. 
He is aware of the dreadful havoc made by pneumonia in New 
York. He knows that it annually carries off more people in 
that city by nearly two thousand than does consumption and 
that while the board of health makes efforts to curb it the 
officials are unable to check its ravages for the only effort 
possible to them is the issuance of "a general warning to the 
public setting forth the necessity for precaution"— and th^s 
amounts to nothing as a preventive measure. Mr. Rockefeller 
reads the papers and he is apprised of the fact that some of his 
friends and many of his neighbors are victims of pneumonia. 
He reads about the excessive mortality of the disease and knows 
of the inability of physicians to cope with it. There are no 
statistics of the recoveries from pneumonia. The per cent of 
recoveries from a disease which causes so many deaths would 
be an interesting and instructive feature of health reports if it 
could be introduced. Mr. Rockefeller takes no interest either 



36 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



in the deaths or the recoveries. But if his own family might be 
invaded and one of its members— his favorite grandchild or 
his favorite son— might be stricken by pneumonia, and the 
ministrations of the most eminent physicians of New York 
failed to save that member from death that would, indeed be a 
different matter. Ah! then his sympathies might be touched. 
And to show that he felt for the many who lost friends by 
death from pneumonia he would perhaps found a hospital for 
pneumonic patients and install therein the most eminent experts 
in the treatment of pneumonia that he could find in New York. 
He is a man who plans and executes thoroughly and he would 
not be satisfied to build a cheap hospital, but he would expend 
on the one which he would erect as a monument to the memory 
of a member of his family that might die of pneumonia several 
millions and would make it, regardless of expense, the largest, 
the most comfortable and convenient, and the best equipped 
hospital in the city of New York. If this book chances to fall 
under his eye let no gloomy forebodings cast a shadow on his 
mind for neither he nor any of his family is likely to be a 
victim of pneumonia, because they are seldom, if ever, exposed 
to the severities of the weather. Yet the disease is liable to 
attack any person at any season of the year. Sixty-five persons 
in New York contracted pneumonia, and died of the disease, 
while attending Gen. Grant's funeral which took place in the 
month of April. These speculative forecasts are not made for 
the purpose of alarming Mr. Rockefeller. The aim of the 
author is to forearm him and offer him an opportunity to fore- 
arm his fellow-men against the attacks of the dread destroyer 
of human life— pneumonia. 

BUT don't tell him. 

If Mr. Rockefeller will offer a 

prize of $100,000 to be awarded to the person who will devise 
that method of treating pneumonia which shall prove by actual 
test in the treatment of pneumonic patients, to produce the best 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 37 



results by yielding the greatest number of recoveries from the 
disease the author will compete for the prize and in such case 
he has no doubt that he would win it. Thus :\Ir. Rockefeller 
w?ould become one of the greatest benefactors known to the 
world for through his instrumentality the author's method 
would be established as the best method. Mr. Rockefeller would 
be the means by which a knowledge of that method would be 
diffused throughout this country and be extended to those 
countries wherever pneumonia prevails. He would thus be 
saved the expense of erecting the suppositions hospital for every 
physician who might be called to treat a pneumonic patient 
would establish a branch hospital in every house to which he 
might be summoned and would be prepared by a knowledge of 
the method to pursue the hospital practice in the treatment of 
his patient. Thus by Mr. Rockefeller's public-spirited ax^tion 
the mortality from pneumonia would be reduced at least one- 
half and perhaps more wherever the method was made known. 
And future generations will rise up and call him ''blessed." 
If this happens to meet his eye the author begs that he will give 
the matter his serious consideration and the author promises in 
all sincerity that he will do his part toward a consummation so 
fraught with value to the health and lives of his fellows. And 
with this he drops that portion of his subject that relates to 
pneumonia. 

MORE ABOUT GERMS. 



Germs are everywhere in the atmosphere. They are most 
numerous near the earth's surface and pervade the air in num- 
bers which gradually become lessened as higher altitudes are 
reached, and it is supposed that at the outer limit of the at- 
mosphere's envelope no germs exist. Take a sheet of glass 
which is perfectly clean and expose it in a place where there is 
no motion to the air. In a comparatively short time germs will 
settle on it. This sheet placed under the microscope is found 
to be covered with germs of the innocuous variety which all 



38 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



persons inhale with the air they breathe and which are carried 
off with every exhalation. This kind produces no harmful re- 
sults to the lungs or to the system. These germs pass in and 
out of the lungs with every breath and cause no damage to the 
health. It is different with the nocuous or pathogenic germs. 
A, very few of these may be inhaled and if the person who in- 
hales them is non-immune to the disease which these pathogenic 
germs cause that person will become infected by those germs 
and that particular disease will be developed in his system, 
having been introduced through the medium of the air. The 
few germs which have found their way by the air passages into 
the system of any person multiply with great rapidity and in 
a short time the person becomes a center of infection to others 
by discharging into the air at every exhalation immense numbers 
of the same kind of germs which infected him. That these 
germs pass out into the air from the lungs of patients who are 
affected with contagious diseases was proved in a London 
hospital where there were a number of children affected with 
measles. The surgeon in attendance coated the inside of some 
glass tubes with glycerin and had the children breathe through 
them. In the glycerin thus breathed over, when placed under 
a microscope, the surgeon found ovoid bodies, bright and shin- 
ing, which were recognized as the contagium vivum of the dis- 
ease and the experiment showed that during the continuance 
of the disease the germs were being constantly exhaled and 
that it was by the medium of the air alone that the germs were 
distributed and the contagium brought into contact with the 
bodies of the non-immune. The same is true of the germs of 
smallpox, scarlatina, diphtheria and perhaps of some other dis- 
eases. The germs of these diseases might be captured and 
isolated by similar experiments. 

Germs of most diseases become diluted in the air when 
wafted by the wind, become so disseminated and separated, that 
they are no longer singly competent to impart disease. Yet 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM, 39 



«ome supposed germs are alleged to be borne by the wind for 
thousands of miles through the upper air and to descend upon 
«ome land far distant from their origin, and are believed there 
to have caused the disease of which they were the pathological 
progeny. Thus some years ago a woman died in Indian Terri- 
tory of what was diagnosticated as Asiatic cholera. But how, 
was queried, could the germs of cholera reach that country and 
produce a single case of the disease? Did this question non- 
plus the physicians who attended the patient? By no means. 
That was easy. There had been a hail-storm on the day prior 
to that on which the woman was taken ill. She had picked up 
several hail-stones, placed them in her mouth, allowed them to 
melt and had swallowed the resulting fluid. The germs of 
cholera were in those hail-stones. Borne on the wings of the 
wind they had been wafted from India and when passing over 
the Indian Territory they had been caught in a hail-storm and 
had been frozen into those particular hail-stones which the 
woman had put into her mouth and hence the disease. This 
explanation may be termed far-fetched, but it is the only way 
the bacterists could account for that sporadic case of cholera: 
and if it were cholera it was the most truly sporadic case of 
the disease that ever occurred anyT\'here. 

The rapidity with which germs multiply discloses the marvel- 
ous operation of nature in the methods provided to prevent con- 
tamination of the atmosphere. It can be illustrated by a simple 
experiment. Place a pot containing the liquor in which a 
shank of beef has been boiled uncovered in the open air. When 
the contents have become cool the vessel is seen to contain a 
-semi-solid jelly like mass. This consists of water and gelatin. 
A germ settles here and there upon the surface and soon there 
appear spots like mould. These are colonies of germs which 
are the progeny of the original settler. These continue to feed 
on the gelatin and to increase in numbers by arithmetical pro- 
gression until the gelatin is liquified and the pot contains a mass 



40 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



of germs which give off the odor of putrescent matter. If a drop 
of this liquid be placed under the microscope it is seen to be 
filled with germs that can not be counted, and all the innumer- 
able mass in the pot have proceeded from the few original set- 
tlers, being reproduced by a process of germination, or perhaps 
more correctly speaking by proliferation, in an incredibly short 
time. Thus it has been learned that the function performed by 
some innocuous germs in the economy of nature is to do the 
work of scavengers by promoting and hastening the process of 
putrefaction. Leibig's old law was that ''molecules (the old 
name for atoms) in motion impart their motion to other mole- 
cules" and this was supposed to explain the processes of fer- 
mentation and putrefaction. It has been ascertained by the re- 
sults of microscopic observation that both these processes— the 
one productive and the other destructive are due to the actions 
of germs provided by nature— each to operate in its own sphere 
of activity. So Leibig's law has become obsolete— its erroneous- 
ness having been proved in the progress of science by new dis- 
coveries. It is a rational conclusion of science that the nocuous 
germs multiply with an almost equal rapidity vrhen a few of 
them find lodgement in the plasma of the human body. 

The physical nature of germs has been studied most in- 
def atigably by the bacterists so that now they know many things 
about them that are correct and many more things about them 
that are incorrect. The germ which is supposed to be the cause 
of yellow fever is set down as a very delicate creature and the 
popular notion is that the first frost kills of all those which dila- 
torily remain in a locality, when the grand migration of their 
fellows, warned by the lateness of the season, is made to more 
congenial climes. On the other hand some germs withstand the 
rigors of the coldest climate and so vigorous are they that they 
may be frozen in ice and when the ice melts in the spring they 
come out and disport themselves in their usual agile and lively 
manner with all their customary airs and graces. The bacter- 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 41 



ists are naturally astounded when they discover that some germs 
act in this fashion. But even in these particulars the rule does 
not hold good. The U. S. vessel Brooklyn had yellow fever on 
board one season while lying in tropical waters. She was put 
out of commission and anchored all winter in Boston harbor. 
In the spring she was placed in service, manned and ordered 
south. No sooner had she entered the tropical region than two 
men were taken sick with what was diagnosticated as yellow 
fever. "Whence the infection? Were the surgeons puzzled for 
an explanation? Not they. There were a few germs concealed 
in or about that part of the quarters occupied by those two 
men which had escaped destruction in the almost arctic winter 
of Boston harbor and the men had been infected by them. Man 
is a gullible creature and often cheats and deceives himself about 
the nature of disease. The gauzy explanation of the surgeons 
of the source of the infection of the two men on board the Brook- 
lyn might satisfy themselves and their confreres but will not be 
acceptable to the devotee of science as she is, the cultivator of 
rational observations and the adopter of demonstrable truths. 
It was because the supposed germs of yelloAV fever were con- 
sidered to be susceptible of destruction by cold that a few years 
ago the wiseacres on the National Board of Health applied to 
congress for an appropriation of a million or so for the purpose 
of having a "frost-ship" constructed. This "frost-ship" was 
to be supplied with a powerful apparatus for producing air re- 
duced to a low temperature, which was to be introduced into 
all parts of ships arriving at the ports of this country (which 
were suspected of being infected with yellow fever) and which 
it was expected would destroy all yellow fever germs. In con- 
sequence of this fool proposition the National Board of Health 
was abolished by congress. It has been replaced by the Amer- 
ican Health Association, a body of volunteer and unofficial wise- 
acres who are deeply interested in questions which concern the 
public health and who at their last preceding meeting were re- 



42 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



ported to have voted unanimously in favor of the proposition 
that yellow fever is propagated by means of a harmless mos- 
<luito— that the germ of the disease is introduced into the human 
system by the sting from the proboscis of that insect. Thus 
sciolists flourish and science gets another black eye. 

Germs are introduced into the stomach in drinking water 
derived from a source that has been polluted and in which they 
have developed in large numbers. The alleged cause of cholera 
is supposed to infect its victims through this medium, being first 
carried to the water and disseminated therein by the winds. 
The supposed cause of the various conditions which are recog- 
nized under the general term of "malaria" was believed until 
within a year or two to have its source in paludal regions, but 
now the bacterists announce as a tenet of their belief that the 
cause of ''malarious" conditions is conveyed into the blood of 
its victims by the sting of the mosquito. If this were so "mal- 
arious" diseases ought to be more prevalent in those districts 
in which mosquitoes are more abundant than elsewhere as for 
instance along the Yukon river in Alaska, where the pests drive 
the bears fairly crazy during the month of August, or along the 
Amazon river in South America where mosquitoes attack the na- 
tives in droves. But observation discloses the fact that "mal- 
aria ' ' is very unusual in Alaska and that few natives suffer from 
it in the valley of the Amazon. Prior to the period, when the 
bacterists laid the blame of "malaria" on the mosquito they 
had discovered a germ which they designated bacillus malariae 
but for some reason they were compelled to abandon this germ 
as its cause and on looking around for a nonsensical idea took 
up with the notion that the mosquito was the cause of so called 
' ' malarious ' ' infection. It has never occurred to the intellectual 
myopes who spend their time in boring into the ends of mi- 
croscopes with their eyes that the poison of so called "malaria" 
may be of autogenic origin or self-produced in the bodies of 
those who may be affected with some one of the various forms 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 43- 

of disease included under that popular and unscientific term. 
The human body is a factory of poisons which are constantly 
being produced and it is full of microbes which fulfill essential 
functions in the human economy. There may be some change 
in the environment of the individual which may work changes 
in the function of certain microbes in the system and those may 
increase disproportionately in numbers or become changed rela- 
tively in character so as to become a menace to health and thus 
be constituted the germ which causes "malaria." The author 
has circumnavigated the globe and has been exposed to cholera 
germs in Calcutta, to yellow fever germs in South America and 
to "malaria" in various regions of the earth but has never been 
the victim of any serious illness during a long life nor in the 
course of his wanderings over the earth's surface. But twice 
he has had an attack of intermittent fever. Once when a boy 
of twelve he fell into a mill-race in the month of December— 
the water being coated with a thin covering of ice and the second 
time when as an act of politeness he pulled off his shoes and socks 
and waded across a small stream of water in Peru. There was 
a picnic and the crowd divided into two parties on the return. 
When the first party reached the small stream about ten feet 
wide and eight inches deep and after crossing it they removed 
to the thither side the temporary foot bridge on which they had 
crossed— the limb of a willow tree about six inches in diameter. 
When the second party, including the author, reached the stream, 
it became incumbent on him to do as narrated and replace the 
foot bridge, which he did and stood in midstream and handed 
the senoritas across. The water, derived from the melting of 
the snow on the nearby Cordilleras mountains was of an icy 
coldness and next day the author had a chill and fever. He 
utterly repudiates any idea of "malaria" in his case and attri- 
butes his attack to the only thing to which a rational person 
could attribute it— his exposure to the frigid temperature of the 
water. At all events he believes that but for his involuntary 



44 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



tumble into the water when a boy and his voluntary pediluvium 
in the waters of the Peruvian stream he never would have been 
affected with so called "malaria" in his life. And he believes 
further that a person may pass his life in the midst of the Dismal 
Swamp or in any district regarded as "malarious" and if he 
observes the rules of health as regards food and clothing and ex- 
posure to sudden changes of temperature he will never be af- 
fected by the so called ' ' malaria ' ' in any form. 

MILK AS A PREVENTIVE OF DISEASE. 

The opinion that germs or the poison which causes changes 
by or in consequence of which they are developed finds con- 
firmation in a discovery made by Professor Behring of Berlin. 
He has discovered that "milk contains an enzyme which has 
an inhibitory action on pathogenic bacteria." The author be- 
lieves this discovery to be true only as it relates to the bacter- 
ium of diphtheria and it corresponds with an opinion advanced 
by him some years ago that the use of milk as a diet prevented 
diphtheria in those who used it. He observed that in the families 
of farmers who saved the milk of their cows from which to 
make butter and who fed the sour milk and the butter milk 
to their pigs, the children were often attacked by diphtheria. 
On the contrary, the children who were given milk, pure, whole, 
wholesome milk as a part of their regular daily food he noticed 
were exempt from attacks of that disease. Cases of the disease 
occur de novo without infection from any source whatever and 
it is a rational conclusion that the specific poison which causes it 
must be of autogenic origin. One of the many poisonous sub- 
stances developed within the human body, by the perversion of 
the hepatic function, supposedly, is the double salt known as 
the oxalate of lime and potassa which is held in solution in the 
serum of the blood, and which is eliminated by the kidneys. 
Octohedral crystals of this salt are produced as a residuum, 
from the urine when the watery portions of that excretion have 
been allowed to evaporate. The presence of this substance in 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 45 

the system is in large measure responsible for the condition 
recognized as "biliousness" and as that condition is commonly 
treated by a purgative medicine and thereby the poisonous sub- 
stance is carried off through the bowels. But it is conceivable 
that this product of abnormal function might be developed in 
€xcess and might be eliminated through the lungs. Ordinarily 
oxaluria is detected by the fact that the patient complains of a 
very offensive taste and this is one manifestation of the presence 
of the oxalate in the system. Suppose it to be eliminated by the 
lungs. At every exhalation the breath passing through and 
over the pharynx is laden with the molecules of the oxalate, 
which acting as an acid and irritating poison begets an inflam- 
mation which becomes diphtheritic in character. In the products 
of this inflammation — the false membrane — the bacterists have 
cfound a bacterium, which they allege to be the cause of the 
disease. At least this bacterium, thus engendered, is a carrier 
of disease to those susceptible of being infected thereby as has 
been proven by numerous instances of such infection and it is 
therefore the cause of the disease in others. But it has not been 
established that the source of the disease in the original case 
was other than autogenic. The treatment most in vogue is by 
injections of antitoxin — a fluid obtained from the blood of horses 
who have been treated on the lines by which the antitoxin for 
hydrophobia has been produced. It is in fact the serum of the 
blood of horses. While this fluid does not act as a specific for 
diphtheria it produces better results and saves a larger per cent 
of the lives of diphtheritic patients than any other method of 
treatment. At the same time the author ventures to anticipate 
and expresses a hope that some method other than serum therapy 
will yet be devised, some new remedy discovered which will yield 
better results than that method: something which will act as a 
specific for the disease. Meanwhile, as prevention is better than 
cure, he suggests that all parents be advised to provide for their 
children, good, whole, wholesome milk as a part of their daily 



46 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



food, for according to Prof. Behring milk contains an enzyme 
(an enzyme is a ferment— a chemic and hydrolitic ferment— not 
an organized ferment such as yeast) a substance whose action is 
immical to the bacterium which causes diphtheria. But whether 
it is this substance, which is a component part of the milk and 
whether it acts as asserted by Prof. Behring or whether it is 
the lactic acid of the milk which acts to prevent the development 
of the oxalates which in excess poison the system who shall de- 
cide. On either hypothesis it is most advisable for parents to 
provide for their children as part of their daily food good pure 
milk, for, according to the observations of the author those chil- 
dren are exempted from attacks of diphtheria who are thus pro- 
vided. The fact that milk is a wholesome food for children is 
well known but when it becomes generally understood that it 
has been established, as the result' of scientific experiment and 
observation that the use of milk as food for children prevents 
diphtheria, it will be used more abundantly and it may be that 
diphtheria will become, by reason of this preventive use of milk 
less frequent and fatal than it is at present, and perhaps event- 
ually its occurrence will be very rare. It has been stated as a 
fact of current history that diphtheria is unknown in Ireland, 
where milk constitutes a large part of the diet of children. 

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

The nervous system of the body is divided into two parts 
or grand systems which act independently of each other but 
which by means of branch nerves communicate at many points 
so that each is capable of being acted upon by the other. 
These two divisions are known as the cerebro-spinal system con- 
sisting of the brain and spinal marrow and the nerves thence 
proceeding : and the ganglionic system or nerves of organic life. 
They are also known as the voluntary and involuntary nervous 
systems because the one is under the control of what is termed the 
will, and over the other the will exercises no control whatever. 
This latter supplies the nerve force or motive power to all the in- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 47 



ternal organs of the body, and for the purposes of this book it 
may be considered as an entirety or each ganglia may be con- 
sidered by itself. These ganglia lie imbedded in the fatty 
tissues posterior to the organs which they supply with the nerve 
force generated by them by means of branches distributed to 
all parts of the organ supplied. For instance the largest 
ganglia of the body are in the solar plexus which is located 
posterior to the stomach and the function of which is to supply 
force to that organ. Other ganglia lie posterior to the kidneys, 
the bowels, the liver, the lungs, the heart and so on and furnish 
motive power to those organs. The action of these organs is 
constant, whether the individual is waking or sleeping, and 
proceeds without intermission from the dawn of life until the 
moment of death, or until the ganglia, affected by disease, un- 
dergo degenerative change and are no longer capable of supply- 
ing nerve force. In such case the organ itself undergoes de- 
generative changes and being no longer able to perform its 
function becomes, for that reason itself the cause of death. For 
instance the cause of the degeneration of the kidney in v\^hat 
is called Brights disease was for a long time unknown. At 
length it was determined by numerous necroscopic examinations 
that the primary lesion in that disease was destructive changes 
in the renal ganglia by which they were in a sense obliterated, 
and because it is impossible to restore those ganglia to their 
pristine condition, the changes in the kidney consequent upon 
this cessation of their nerve force and the changes in the blood 
resultant therefrom which combined changes are recognized un- 
der the general term of Bright 's disease make it absolutely certain 
that the disease will always eventuate in death. But for this 
striking discovery the bacterists would today be searching for the 
(bacillus which they might list as the cause of Morbus Brightii 
and it has been forever placed beyond their power to allege 
that it belongs to the class of germ diseases. The first condi- 
tion of the renal nerves at the incipiency of the disease is that 



48 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



of gangasthenia. The ganglia are called upon to supply more 
nerve force than they can furnish. Ordinarily while the urine 
is of normal quality its excretion goes on without any extra de- 
mand upon the ganglia, but once let the urine become loaded 
with that product of malnutrition— the urates— and it becomes 
an exceedingly difficult task for the ganglia to supply the neces- 
sary nerve force for its elimination. It is easy work to keep 
Tip the needed force when the urine is clear and as limpid as 
water, but when it is scant and high colored and heavily charged 
with urates the ganglia are overworked in the call for force to 
enable the kidneys to eliminate the acid urine. This state of 
affairs may continue for weeks and the individual unaware of 
the deadly changes being wrought within his body may through 
neglect and indifference or more likely through ignorance take 
no steps to have his physical troubles relieved. At length the 
overworked ganglia ''throw up the sponge" cease to supply 
nerve force to the kidneys and literally perish through degenera- 
tion — the first sign of which they manifested in gangasthenia : 
prompt notice of which they gave out in the symptoms of that 
condition and which read aright enables the practitioner to 
avert the fatal results sure to follow the first warning. It is in 
such cases as this that the judicious physician finds opportunity 
to act in accordance with that time-honored maxim: ohsta prin- 
cipiis, and successfully. 

The ganglia are small flat bodies, which are placed as 
stated posterior to the organs which they supply and are of dif- 
ferent sizes and shapes. The largest single ganglion in the 
body is in the solar plexus posterior to the stomach and it is 
named from its shape the semi-lunar ganglion. There is still 
a plexus of these nerves lying on the anterior aspect of the 
spinal column which still bears the name of the great sympathe- 
tic applied to it by anatomists many years ago though there is 
nothing of sjnnpathy in the nature of the functions which it 
performs. There is also a set of long nerves in the chest lying 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 49 

on each side of the spinal column which were misnamed the 
splachnic because they were supposed in some way to control 
the bowels. Their proper function has not been determined 
and there remain many other unexplained mysteries in the 
human body notwithstanding the numerous experiments of the 
physiologists and the many demonstrations of the anatomists. 
One of the chief functions of the ganglia is the performance of 
that phenomenon termed the circulation. For convenience sake 
these ganglia have been designated vaso-motors though no one 
has ever been able to point out the special ganglia which perform 
this particular function. There are two classes or divisions of 
the vaso-motors or vessel-movers, to wit, the arterio-motors or 
artery-movers, and veno-motors or vein-movers, and these two 
sets of nerves act independently of each other and each can be 
acted on separately by disturbing agencies. This fact can be 
demonstrated by phenomena which are of frequent occurrence 
and of almost daily observation. The blush brought to the 
cheek by self -consciousness or the shame of conscious guilt is a 
temporary congestion in the arterioles produced by a slight dis- 
turbance of the arterio-motors. The pallor of fear caused by 
fright or terror denotes a temporary passive congestion of the 
venules produced by an overwhelming depression of the veno- 
motors. Suppose now that the blush becomes permanent and 
that the face is suffused with a dusky red, shall we not say that 
this condition is due to incipient gangasthenia and thereby show 
that we are capable of drawing a rational conclusion? Or shall 
we accept the dictum of the bacterists and admit that their ir- 
rational conclusion that the condition is due to the agency of a 
nocuous germ is the only possible deduction of science? Or if 
the pallor becomes permanent shall we hold that the condition 
is due to veno-motor gangasthenia: shall we basely relinquish 
the scientific principles we have evolved and join the standard 
of those foes of true science the bacterists? Or shall we main- 
tain the truth against those who are incapable of making correct 



^0 THE QUEST OP THE GEBM. 



observation and scientific deductions ? Let us stick to our colors, 
gangasthenia forever ! Down with the bacterists— the entire gang 
of them ! Let them and their labors be covered with oblivion ! 

Each ganglion or cluster of ganglia may be the subject of 
asthenia or loss of power. It has been explained that the in- 
cipient condition, which if permitted to proceed and increase 
from day to day until Bright 's disease supervenes, is asthenia of 
the renal ganglia. In another disease known as exophthalmic 
goitre certain cervical ganglia become asthenic. In this disease 
the thyroid gland becomes enlarged and the eyes protrude— are 
actually forced forward by the contraction of the concave muscle 
stretched across the orbit posterior to the globe of the eye. In 
the concavity of this muscle the eyeballs rest and it has been 
demonstrated by experiment that irritation of the cervical gan- 
glia causes the muscle to contract and protrusion of the eye is 
thereby produced— and this undue prominence of that organ be- 
comes an objective sjroiptom of the disease and has been adopted 
as a part of its designation— (exopthalmos. Gr.-literally, eye- 
out.) But the feeling of protrusion is often present as a sub- 
jective symptom of disease. It is markedly present in most 
forms of the so called "malarious" diseases. In yellow fever 
exopthalmos is felt subjectively by all patients. One who passed 
through a siege of the disease in 1878 and suffered a relapse and 
yet recovered describes this feeling by saying that ' ' his tortured 
eyes semed bound to jump from their sockets." The sense of 
protrusion is often present but patients seldom speak of it unless 
particularly questioned about it. That form of it vulgarly 
known as wall-eyes is a striking feature in topers and causes no 
pain because the protrusion is brought about very gradually 
This is simple exopthalmos, uncomplicated with disturbance of 
any other organ. The enlargement of the thyroid gland is not 
due to any proliferation of its cells— to any hypertrophy of its 
proper tissue, but entirely to the increased quantity of blood re- 
tained in it in consequence of the veno-motor gangasthenia af- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 51 



fecting its veins, the result of which is venous passive congestion 
of the gland— the blood distending it as water does a sponge. 
And here the author desires to record one of the numerous 
errors of medical writers noted by him when searching for infor- 
mation in their works. Dr. Wm. A. Hammond was an eminent 
physician, the author of some medical works and of a number of 
novels which had some vogue in their day. In his treatise on 
diseases of the nervous system he says when writing of the dis- 
ease under consideration: "I am inclined to think that, in the 
present state of our knowledge, we are scarcely warranted in 
locating exopthalmic goitre in the ganglionic nervous system, and 
that we are justified in regarding it as an affection of the brain 
and spinal marrow." This is a most absurd opinion. Dr. Ham- 
mond was not gifted with a scientific imagination. His imagin- 
ation was of a low order — the kind that produces poor fiction. 
This is the author's pronouncement: Exopthalmic goitre is es- 
sentially a ganglionic disease and its every symptom is a sign of 
gangasthenia. But the most remarkable circumstance connected 
with this disease is that the bacterists have not claimed it to be 
of microbic origin though they have very good grounds for such 
a claim. It was recorded in a medical journal some years ago 
that two women who lived at the base of the Alps in Switzerland 
were affected with exopthalmic goitre. They passed the sum- 
mer in a valley at a considerable elevation. During their stay 
in the valley all symptoms of the disease disappeared: their en- 
larged thyroid glands w^ere reduced to their normal size, their 
eyes assumed their natural expression, and their general health 
became much improved. Soon after their return to their homes 
the exopthalmic goitre began to manifest itself again and the 
women were soon affected by it to the same degree as previous 
to their ascent to the Alpine valley. Now it is a fact well es- 
tablished by the observations of the bacterists that certain germs 
are incapable of attaining any great altitude. The germs of 
'' malaria" can not ascend to the second story of a house though 
by unintermittent effort they may climb up a mountain five 



52 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



hundred feet high. The germs of yellow fever, a disease of the 
sea coast, seldom reach an altitude of more than one thousand 
feet. Now, what more natural than for a bacterist on reading 
the preceding record of the cases of the two women in Switzer- 
land to assume that exopthalmic goitre is due to a germ, which 
while it was active in the low land could not produce its specific 
effect at an altitude. The assumption would be fully sustained 
by the facts according to the logic of the bacterists and their 
reasoning about this suppositious germ would be of a parcel 
with their methods in regard to other supposed causes of dis- 
ease. The author would like to start some fool bacterist on the 
quest of the germ of exopthalmic goitre. There is not the 
slightest doubt but that he would find something which he could 
and would allege contrary to common sense, contrary to the 
principles of science, contrary to every rational consideration 
to be the germ of that disease. The bacterists have done that 
very thing before in relation to the germs of other diseases, they 
are doing it every day and a little thing like the discovery of 
a germ hitherto unknown of a disease very well known would 
not feaze them. Well! "Ephraim is joined to his idols." The 
question is shall we '4et him alone?" Not much. 

CONDITION RESULTING FROM GANGASTHENIA. 

The condition which results from gangasthenia, or from a 
diminution of the supply of nerve force to an organ is passive 
congestion of the organ. The nerves (ganglia) move the ves- 
sels and the vessels move the blood and if the nerves cease to 
move the vessels, the vessels cease to move the blood and passive 
congestion ensues which in degree of severity corresponds ex- 
actly with the degree of the diminution of ganglionic nerve 
force. If the gangasthenia is slight the passive congestion that 
ensues is mild and if the gangasthenia is severe and pervades 
the entirety of one or other set of nerves which control the cir- 
culation of the blood the passive congestion ensuing will be of 
corresponding severity and will manifest itself by symptoms of 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 53 



the most aggravated and violent character. The form of con- 
gestion present will correspond in kind with the form of gan- 
gasthenia antecedent to it. Thus if the gangasthenia is of the 
nerves which control the arterial circulation, the resulting con- 
gestion will be arterious. If the gangasthenia is of the nervei 
which control the venous circulation the resultant congestion 
will be venous. Certain changes occur as consequences of pas- 
sive congestion. In veno-motor congestion changes occur, in the 
more severe forms of that condition in the character of the 
blood and in its relation to the containing vessels. Thus when 
the nerve force from the veno-motors ceases entirely stasis of 
the blood occurs in the veins. They become distended to their 
fullest capacity and then takes place the change in the character 
of the blood and in its relation to the vessels. The serous part 
of the blood drains into the stomach and is ejected per or em. 
And the veins of the other abdominal organs are relieved of a 
part of their contents by the drainage into the intestinal canal 
of the serum which then passes away per anum. "But,'' inter- 
jects a bacterist at this juncture, ''what you describe is chol- 
era." "What rational objection is there to the description?" 
"None, only you attribute the disease to what you term acute 
general veno-motor gangasthenia and according to the doctrines 
of bacterism it is caused by the comma bacillus." "It is un- 
fortunate for the comma bacillus that our doctrines clash. It 
will be a fortunate day for science when that bacillus is put 
out of business." Yours truly, with kind regards to Prof. 
Koch! 

ARTERIO-MOTOR. PASSIVE CONGESTION. 

The effects of arterio-motor passive congestion are chiefly 
changes of the relation of the blood to the vessels by hemorrhages. 
These occur mainly through the mucous surfaces of the differ- 
ent organs. As such effects we get gastric, intestinal, renal, uter- 
ine and pulmonary hemorrhages. It is not believed that they 
occur in consequence of rupture of or a solution of the continuity 
of the containing vessels, but these vessels become distended 



54 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



with blood and the blood oozes out, and may accumulate and be 
discharged in large coagula, as from the intestines and the blad- 
der, or it may be ground up into small coagula by the action 
of and be ejected from the stomach as the black vomit of yellow 
fever and milk sickness or it may drain off in fluid form as 
from a congested uterus or it may be coughed up in the same 
form by haemoptysis from a congested lung. The best oppor- 
tunity to observe this process of oozing of blood is in cases of 
scurvy in which blood can be seen to ooze from the swollen 
gums and the best opportunity to observe the distension of the 
arterioles is in the ''ferrety eye" of yellow fever patients, in 
which the entire sclerotic coat shows up covered completely with 
the arterioles distended to their fullest extent with bright scarlet 
blood. It is believed that cerebral hemorrhage occurs as the 
result of passive congestion and that it takes place by oozing 
and not from a solution of continuity in the walls of a vessel 
and that the oozing continues until a coagulum forms for which 
there is no means of exit and the result therefrom is usually 
death. Now the best time to treat cerebral hemorrhage is on 
the principle of ohsta principiis before it occurs. It is the re- 
sult of arterious passive congestion which is due to arterio- 
motor gangasthenia. When physicians are taught in their pupil- 
age the nature of this condition and learn to recognize it at a 
glance : and when it is recognized and treated in a rational man- 
ner cerebral hemorrhage will seldom occur. It ought, indeed, 
never to occur when the ganglionic theory of disease is thor- 
oughly understood. It is a most extraordinary fact that no bac- 
terist has had the hardihood, the audacity to allege that cerebral 
hemorrhage is due to a germ ; it would be a consistent utterance 
if some fool of a bacterist would make some such fool-hardy 
statement. 

We have seen how the state of the circulation in arterious 
congestion is shown by the congested conjunctivse constituting 
the ''ferrety eye" of yellow fever. In the venous congestion 
the conjunctivse are clear and the sclerotic is of a porcelain ap- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 65 



pearance. There are other means of observing the circulation 
in both veins and arteries when those vessels are congested. By 
looking at the finger nails one can perceive through their trans- 
lucent substance the condition of the vessels when congested. 
If the congestion is in the veins the blood under the finger nails 
will show blue, and in the case of choleraic patients, about to 
die, the blood having become thick, viscid and tarry it will ap- 
pear black. What may be called the "congestive arc" will ap- 
pear at the distal end of the nail, where attached to the fleshy 
tissues, when pressure is made on it at its middle with the 
thumb nail and the appearance of this "arc" will, after some 
practice, enable the observer to judge of the general state of 
the circulation. Pressure with the thumb will produce a white 
spot if made on the back of the hands of a person affected with 
arterio-motor congestion. The rapidity or slowness with which 
the blood returns to the exsanguined spot also affords the means 
of judging of the degree of congestion. When no congestion is 
present the blood returns like a flash to the spot to which the 
pressure was applied, showing that the circulation is normal. 

ZYMOSIS. 

Zymosis was supposed to be the progenitor of all germs. 
When germs entered the system zymosis entered also and set up 
a factory by the operations of which germs were produced. 
Hence in the classification of diseases certain ones which were 
supposed to be due to microbes were classed as zymotic. When, 
however, it was ascertained that germs did not multiply by the 
process of fermentation but by another altogether different pro- 
cess the term z^inotic was dropped by medical writers and it 
has become obsolete among the learned and scientific. It is stiU 
retained in that old fogy medical office which is under the 
supervision of the Surgeon General of the Army in Washington: 
the surgeons of the army are still obliged to make their reports 
upon blanks furnished to them which contain a long list classed 
as "Zymotic Diseases." The attention of that officer is hereby 



56 THE QUEST OF THE GEEM. 

called to this evidence of old fogyism which pervades one branch 
of his business and the expectation is that he will issue new 
blanks in which the various diseases will be classified in accord- 
ance with modern scientific ideas. Dear Sir:— Please do not 
fail to classify in your new blank as such all disease which can 
properly be placed under the heading of ' * Ganglionic Diseases. ' ' 
A list of these as determined by a scientific gentleman of emi- 
nence—one of the great medical notabilities of the day may be 
found in the present volume. It is sent to you ''without re- 
mark" verhum sap. Very respectfully. The Author, 

COMPLIMENTS TO THE SURGEON GENERAL. 

In consequence of the preceding paragraph it may be ex- 
pected that the Surgeon General will get up a new blank form 
for issue to the surgeons of the army upon which to make their 
reports instead of the antiquated form now issued by that offi- 
cer. Every little helps, to be sure, and this new blank upon 
which the "Ganglionic Diseases" will be given official recogni- 
tion will aid in disseminating the information that gangasthenia 
has become an established fact of science. But the author does 
not care a damn whether the Surgeon General will issue a new 
blank or not, for it will soon dawn upon the minds of the bac- 
terists that the germ theory is not the "whole thing" and that 
there other theories, witness, the ganglionic theory. 

THE CAUSE OF GANGLIONIC DISEASES. 

The cause of ganglionic diseases consists of a number of 
factors of causation all of which are included in the phrase 
"environment of the individual" and this embraces every cir- 
cumstance of the life of the individual. Environments differ 
and therefore manifestations of disease differ. The environment 
which will cause one disease will produce that disease only. 
There is no specific cause for a ganglionic disease. Thus sea- 
sickness is one of these diseases. The environment which causes 
it will not cause cholera nor yellow fever nor yet scurvy, which 
mostly used to affect persons on shipboard. The chief symptom 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 57 



of sea-sickness is vomiting due to congestion of the stomach, and 
the sufferer from this affection being pallid we know that the 
gastric congestion is venous and that it is due to veno-motor 
gangasthenia. No one has ever claimed that sea-sickness is 
caused by a germ which has its habitat on ships and commits 
its ravages there by invading the stomachs of passengers, and 
no one has ever alleged that sea-sick persons are affected with 
gastritis. In fact here is a simple disease which soon disappears 
when its subject changes environment, when he steps ashore. The 
violent vomiting of sea-sickness in aggravated form is present 
in cholera and the condition of the choleraic patient's stomach 
is precisely the same as that of the sea-sick patient's stomach- 
venous congestion due to veno-motor gangasthenia, which is 
caused in like manner as it is caused in the sea-sick person, by 
the factors of causation which united constitute the environment. 
But now comes that "amoosin' little cuss" the bacterist and 
with great mental acumen is able to perceive in the symptoms 
of cholera the indubitable evidence of the operations of a germ 
and he sets about finding it. He has found something which he 
alleges to be that germ and he is satisfied: he seeks no further. 
Vomiting is also a prominent symptom of yellow fever and in 
this instance the pathologist declares that a yellow fever pa- 
tient vomits because his stomach is the seat of inflammation. 
Mind you there is no rational cause for gastritis as a compli- 
cation of yellow fever, and not a single product of the in- 
flammatory process is ejected from the stomach of a yellow 
fever patient, nothing but the fluids ingested and blood ground 
up by the peristaltic action of the organ into small coagula so 
that it resembles coffee-grounds, and is called black vomit. 
Further as soon as the fever subsides the patient no longer 
vomits, the gastritis has disappeared and the stomach readily 
retains food and drink. Idiopathic gastritis is a very rare dis- 
ease and it may almost be said with truth that it never occurs. 
Cases of what are diagnosticated as gastritis very often occur 
in the practice of the city practitioner because the term has a 



58 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



scientific and satisfying sound to a patient and he would rather 
be treated for that than for something the name of which 
sounded plebeian. So gastritis is an aristocratic disease and is 
most often encountered among the wealthy who can afford to 
pay well and are willing to paj^ Y\'ell to their attending physi- 
cians for applying high-sounding terms to their ailments. It 
is a fact that gastritis caused by some irritating substance like 
arsenic is a true inflammation and it does not subside spontane- 
ously, but it is a very serious and severe disease v\iiich seldom 
ends in recovery. Necroscopy of the subjects of death from ar- 
senical poisoning shows the stomach to be much disorganized 
even beyond repair. But in yellovf fever the stomach of patients 
is in not the least degree disorganized by Vv^hat is universally 
regarded by medical vrriters as the symptomatic gastritis of the 
disease, but on the subsidence of the fever all signs of gastritis 
disappear and the stomach is fit to receive food and drink and 
promptly makes the demands of the system for such supplies 
knovrn by the usual and normal sensations therein. 

SUNSTROKE. 

Sunstroke is a disease, which in one form of it, is char- 
acterized by such an excessive degree of abnormal heat of the 
body that the only method of reducing the exalted temperature 
is by the external application of ice. There are two forms of 
sunstroke recognized. One in which the surface of the body is 
cool and the countenance is pallid, and in this form resort is 
usually had to stimulation as the most correct and most effective 
method of treatment. In the other form the body is hot and 
the countenance is flushed : the abnormal heat of body is termed 
a fever and hence this form has been designated thermic or 
heat fever. Now this excessive heat of body in this form of 
sunstroke has been improperly termed fever. Fever as defined 
by Galen is heat in excess of nature {color praeter naturam) 
and this definition is considered to be the only correct one ac- 
cording to all ideas extant at the present time. But if one 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 59 



understands the mechanism of true fever he will perceive that 
fever is not the proper term to apply to that condition of ab- 
normal heat of body present in the form of sunstroke designated 
as thermic fever. In other words thermic fever is not a fever. 
The same is true of so called yellow fever and of so called 
typhus fever. The author makes a distinction based on the dif- 
ference in the source of the heat in these diseases and the source 
of the heat in true fever. Califorication of the body is effected 
by the action of normal ganglia on normal blood circulating 
normally in a normal capillary area, and increase of the pro- 
duction of heat by this process in excess of the normal degree 
{praeter naturam) constitutes true fever. Bear in mind that 
this heat is produced by the normal action of those normal 
ganglia termed the vaso-motors. It is characteristic of true 
fever that the exalted temperature of the condition is distributed 
alike to all parts of the body and that all portions of the 
surface feel equally hot to the hand of the practitioner whose 
ovrn bodily caloric is normal. But there never was a case of 
thermic fever, there never was a case of typhus fever and there 
never was a case of yellow fever in which the hands and feet of 
the patient did not feel cool to the normal hand of the observer 
while at the same time the body was burning up with excessive 
heat. Now the abnormal heat of true fever is derived as the nor- 
mal heat of health is, from the same source to wit: the normal 
action of the ganglia. In true fever the blood circulates with in- 
creased swiftness in both veins and arteries and there is no con- 
gestion. In consequence of the accelerated motion of the blood 
there is increase of the bodily heat which is recognized as fever 
and it is the signal hung out by nature as a warning that there 
is present in the body an enemy termed disease. But in 
thermic fever, yellow fever and typhus fever the ganglia have 
been overwhelmed by factors of causation which have depressed 
them so that they are no longer capable of performing their 
function of moving the vessels which move the blood. Now 
there is in the operations of the human body what is known as 



60 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



the law of compensation. When one of two of the various 
dnal organs of the body becomes disabled from any cause and 
is no longer able to perform its proper function its burden is 
thrown upon its fellow. So when the ganglia which move the 
vessels which move the blood have been overwhelmed and are no 
longer capable of performing the function of vaso-motors the 
burden of their work is thrown upon the cerebro-spinal system 
of nerves and in consequence of this shifting of the burden of 
circulation and calorification upon a set of nerves unaccustomed 
to the task the work gets poorly done and the heat is unevenly 
distributed — some parts being cooler than normal while other 
parts are burning up with abnormal heat. Because the heat in 
these diseases is from a different source than the heat of true 
fever! because passive congestion is present in these diseases 
and not in true fever, and oecause therefore the abnormal heat 
of these diseases in not a true fever the author makes a distinc- 
tion to denote these differences and has designated the abnormal 
heat of these diseases ' ' Hyperthermy. " Etymologically the 
words have the same meaning but the new term marks a dis- 
tinction which will enable the observant physician to distinguish 
between congestive and inflammatory diseases: hyperthermy is 
symptomatic of one class of disease and true fever (or fever 
simply) of the other. And this distinction thus evolved and 
thus marked though enunciated more than twenty years ago by 
the author has received no recognition from medical writers. It 
is based on profound philosophical study of the nature of dis- 
ease and is the outcome of scientific medical principles, but the 
term coined to indicate the difference between the source of 
bodily heat in the congestive and inflammatory diseases has not 
been adopted by the lexicographers and is therefore unknov/n to 
medical men. But for the purpose of elucidating the point in 
hand the term fever will be employed when the congestive dis- 
eases are referred to, and thermic and yellow and typhus will 
continue to be regarded as fevers in order not to confuse the 
minds of readers who are accustomed to so regard them. Thermic 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 61 



fever has never been attributed to a germ though a congestive 
chill is. But here is a disease in which the bodily heat reaches 
its highest range and it has never been claimed by the bacterists 
as a germ disease and has never been classed by them as such. 
According to the germ theory germs are the primary and es- 
sential cause of fevers but in thermic fever we find a higher 
degree of bodily heat than occurs in any other disease and it 
is absolutely certain that no germ is present and that the dis- 
ease is caused by the environment of the individual and it is 
absolutely certain that the sunstruck person is not bitten by the 
Anaconda mosquito. 

HEIsIORRHAGSS. 

Hemorrhages occur as idiopathic affections and thus occur- 
ring they are never attributed to the action of germs. Thus 
we may have as single affections haemetemisis which is a con- 
comitant of yellow fever: intestinal hemorrhage which occurs 
in typhus and dengue, renal hemorrhage which gives its name 
to h^maturic fever, and uterine hemorrhage which is a symp- 
tom of typhus and of yellow fever. Of course these hemor- 
rhages when they occur intercurrently in the course of these 
diseases according to the doctrines of the bacterists must be 
the results of germ action, but when they occur independently, 
idiopathically they are attributed to rational causes. The same 
may be said with truth in regard to each symptom of these 
diseases: taken singly, separately and disconnected from the 
group which constitute each particular disease none are sup- 
posed to be caused by germs, but taken in combination in the 
form which is recognized as a special disease by a particular 
designation all are supposed to be caused by the action of germs. 
In sea-sickness there is vomiting due to congestion of the 
stomach. Why in the name of all that is rational can not the 
vomiting of cholera and of yellow fever be attributed to the 
same cause? It is literally due solely to that cause. But why 
in the name of common sense do men supposed to be educated 



62 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

allow themselves to be led by the nose by those fool bacterists and 
accept their anomalous and paradoxical doctrines without even a 
protest ? The fever of sunstroke is admitted by all to be due to the 
environment, why then should yellow fever or typhus be at- 
tributed to anything else"? Are the absurdities and assininities 
of the bacterists to i*ule the minds of men continually? Shall 
their fool doctrines continue to govern the actions of men 
to their great detriment and to the loss of many lives every 
year? These are serious questions and worthy of the consider- 
ation of scientists and statesmen. Why if a disease is neither 
contagious nor infectious should there be quarantine against it? 
It has been proved beyond any doubt that yellow fever is 
neither. Heaven and earth and the sea and all things therein 
have been searched in vain for the germ of the disease and it 
has not been found: it can not and never will be found for 
the best of reasons that no germ of yellow fever exists. Have 
the bacterists given up the search for it? Was a fool ever 
known to depart from his folly? These fools have at length 
been reduced to the pitiable extremity of blaming a poor harm- 
less innocent mosquito for propagating the disease. And yet 
it is a matter of historical record that Havana was free from 
yellow fever for more than a hundred years from 1654 to 1761. 
Is it supposable that no person was bitten by the special brand of 
mosquito by which it is alleged the disease is propagated. Not 
on your life. But historical evidence shovrs that Havana had 
not been free from yellow fever since 1761 when the germs 
of the disease were re-introduced by two vessels which arrived 
from Vera Cruz. 

EXPERIMENTS. 

While Cuba was in possession of this country the medical 
officers of the army made experiments in regard to the in- 
fectiousness and contagiousness of the disease. Two men who 
volunteered for the purpose who had never been subjects of 
yellow fever and were therefore supposed to be non-immune to 
it, wore the undergarments of and slept in the beds occupied 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 63 



by two of their comrades who had died of yellow fever. Now 
the disease has always been supposed to be capable of being 
communicated by f omit es— clothing worn by patients who suf- 
fered from it. Here was a crucial test. The garments worn 
by persons who had died of the disease were taken from their 
dead bodies and were donned by men in prime health who 
were supposed to be non-immune andi were worn by them with- 
out bathing their bodies for several days: at the same time 
these men occupied the beds previously used by the men who 
had died, without change of sheets, for several nights. These 
men passed the ordeal unscathed and thus proved that there 
was no contagion in infected garments and no infection in con- 
tagious garments and that the disease is neither infectious nor 
contagious. Since then Havana has undergone sanitary regen- 
eration under the supervision of the Americans who occupied 
the island subsequent to the Spanish war and as a result of 
that thorough-going work Havana has been reported to be free 
from yellow fever. When the work was begun there were im- 
passable mud holes in the streets and green, slimy pools in the 
back yards: the sewers were few in number; two-thirds of the 
population lived on unpaved streets and half of them lived on 
streets which were constantly in an extremely unsanitary con- 
dition rendered so by deposits of much decomposing animal and 
vegetable matter : the houses are small ' and densely occupied : 
the pri^^^ sink, open kitchen and stable adjoined each other 
and were in close proximity to the sleeping apartments. The 
people were poor and so were ill-fed. In one district the sickly 
and anemic residents looked as dirty and cheerless as the streets 
and houses. Fine food they for yellow fever to feast upon. 
The conditions of life here described constitute a part of the 
environment of the individual and add to these conditions 
solar heat ranging from 75° to 80° for days in succession and 
there you are. It needs no prophetic vision to predict the re- 
sult. Yellow fever would be assuredly engendered. As a result 
of the work carried on under American occupation Havana is 



64 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



now a clean city: its streets have been paved; sewers have been 
built and it is reported to be entirely free from yellow fever. 
But there is no saying how long it will remain so immune. The 
disease has made its unwelcome presence known in some of the 
cleanliest cities, given conditions of environment favorable to 
its development Havana will some day again be the seat of an 
epidemic of yellow fever. But the sanitary officials have adopted 
a modified quarantine against vessels arriving at the port and 
having yellow fever patients on board. The patients are taken 
to the fever hospital on stretchers, the other passengers are kept 
under observation for a few days and finally allowed to go 
ashore and the ship is disinfected. They will never learn that 
the precaution of detaining passengers aboard a supposedly in- 
fected ship and the expense of disinfecting a ship in which 
there can by no possibility be infection are altogether unneces- 
sary. The "Philadelphia Medical Eecord" in a recent article 
commends the methods of the sanitary officials at Havana and 
advises Americans to copy those methods. They rather let the 
editor of that journal if he wishes to be ranked with "the most 
advanced Americans" advise that the severe restrictions of the 
quarantine laws in this country be relaxed and quarantine on 
account of yellow fever be abolished. Does he not knov/ that 
a shipload of yellow fever patients might be landed at the 
wharves of Philadelphia and not a single one of the population 
would be infected by the disease. If he did not know it before 
this he is hereby apprised of the fact. "One swallow does not 
make a summer" but one case will prove the verity of a state- 
ment. Col. Geo. E. Waring was in charge of the work of clean- 
ing the city of Havana. He became ill and deemed it advisable 
to return to New York. En route he developed an attack of 
yellow fever and when he landed at New York he was taken to 
his own home where he soon after died. Now no person con- 
tracted yellow fever from the supposed infection emanating 
from his body. You say : ' ' Every precaution was taken to pre- 
vent infection: his clothing and the bed clothes he used were 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 65 



burned; his room and all his personal effects were disinfected." 
These precautions were entirely unnecessary, for there is no in- 
fection or contagion in any of the emanations from a person 
suffering from yellow fever. Some years ago a physician in New 
Orleans, who was more intelligent than his fellows took this 
same ground and in order to prove his sincerity and in affirma- 
tion of his views offered to swallow the freshly vomited matter 
ejected from the stomach of a patient in the throes of death 
from yellow fever. He did so and was entirely unharmed by 
the nauseous dose. So it may be safely stated that a thousand 
yellow fever patients might be landed in Boston, New York or 
Philadelphia and be distributed in various sections of those 
cities and no person would be infected by this wholesale intro- 
duction of diseased persons among healthy inhabitants of those 
cities. So strong, some years ago was the belief in the capability 
of clothing worn by yellow fever patients to spread the infection 
of the disease that a southern physician proposed to distribute 
such clothing at various points in all the large northern cities. 
The people of the north were horror struck at the diabolical pro- 
position and its author was regarded as an unhuman miscreant. 
Knowledge has increased somewhat since that time. Now the 
man would simply be laughed at, and as to his proposition we 
would say: Send on your clothing and we will wash it and dis- 
tribute it to the poor. Yet it is a matter of record that yellow 
fever prevailed in Boston, New York and Philadelphia during 
some of the years in the last decade of the eighteenth century 
1790-1800. The only way to account rationally for the pre- 
valence of the disease in those cities during those years is by 
stating that the environment of the inhabitants of the cities 
at the time yellow fever prevailed was such as to cause or 
develop it. This statement would be borne out if we could have 
historically correct and reliable descriptions of that environ- 
ment. By the way it may be stated that venesection was much 
the vogue of those days and the doctors used to bleed their 
yellow fever patients. The practice has been so nearly aband- 



G6 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



oned that old fashioned spring lancet is a curiosity in these 
days. 

FEAR IS A FACTOR. 

Fear is a prominent factor of causation in the production of 
ganglionic diseases. By the shock it causes by its suddenness 
'and by the terror it excites it may be the sole cause of death. 
An instance of death from this cause recently occurred in Rome. 
A young American lady was attacked by a robber and she was 
so overcome by terror that she could not rally from the shock. 
Fear is a factor in the production of yellow fever and acts 
as a direct depressant of those nerves whose involvement is the 
essential feature of the disease. The wide spread effect of fear 
was notable at the beginning of the last epidemic of yellow fever 
that occurred at Memphis. A shoemaker who lived in an out- 
lying section of the city took some clothing out of his trunk to 
air it. The clothing had not been disturbed since it had been 
packed away in the previous summer. He was taken ill in a 
few days and his disease was soon declared to be yellow fever 
and it was affirmed by the physicians that he had been infected 
by the germs of the disease which had remained in his clothing 
during the whole of the previous winter. Information of the 
matter passed rapidly from one to another and alarm spread 
like wild fire among the inhabitants of the city. Those who were 
able to do so fled in panic from the city. There were not 
enough coaches to convey all who wished to depart. Those 
which left the city were crowded and many persons clung to 
the railings in order to get away from the pestilence. All were 
driven by fear of the dread disease to escape from the city. 
More than half of the population abandoned their homes and 
sought points of safety in the north and remained absent until 
the first frost came and made the city a safe place to return 
to by the destruction of the supposed germs of the disease. Fear 
not only drove many away but those who remained were also 
its subjects and it is certain that a much less number of those 
who remained would have been attacked by the disease but for 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 67 



the great dread of infection which constantly wrought in their 
minds and depressed their spirits. It is also certain that the 
shoemaker would have been the first victim even if he had 
not opened his trunk and taken out his clothing to air it. He 
would have started the epidemic in any event. Fear and other 
factors of causation would do the rest under any circumstance 
of its origin. 

ENVIRONMENT. 

Environment of the individual is a phrase in which is in- 
tended to be included all factors of causation which singly or 
by united action on the individual may cause or produce dis- 
ease — and these factors of causation are to be found in the air 
he breathes, in the food he eats and in the conditions of his 
social existence and germs are excluded. The air is a variable 
fluid and is constantly undergoing changes in its constituent 
elements and in the forces which pervade it. Ammonia is one 
of those elements, and its amount is the subject of change. At 
one time the am^ount may be greatly in excess of that which per- 
vades the air at other times and there may be periods Avhen 
there is what may be termed a minimum of the gas present in 
the atmosphere. It has been observed that in a community 
where there was a factory which made fertilizers out of fish the 
people were free from "malaria" and this immunity was at- 
tributed to the diffusion in the air of an abundance of ammonia 
from the factory. It has also been noted that vessels in the 
cattle trade were free from yellow fever and this was attributed 
to the presence of ammonia derived from the urinary discharges 
of the cattle. During one epidemic in New Orleans it was ob- 
served that albuminoid ammonia was present in the air in large 
quantity while of free ammonia there was but a trace. It is 
free ammonia which is essential to life, for human existence de- 
pends on the pre-existence of three substances, carbonic acid, 
water and ammonia. If any one of these three were withdrawn 
from the world all vital phenomena whether of animal or vege- 
table would cease. It is a fair inference that a substance such 



68 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



as ammonia which is essential to life is in proper proportion 
necessary to the sustentation of health and when but a trace of 
it can be found in the air while one of its deleterious compounds 
is found at the same time and place to be in excess it is a ra- 
tional deduction that the absence of the healthful compound 
and the presence of the injurious compound may have some- 
thing to do with the prevalence of an epidemic which is cotem- 
poraneous with this unusual condition of the atmosphere. Is 
this condition alone responsible for the prevalence of the epi- 
demic and can it be accounted for by other atmospheric con- 
ditions which prevail at the same time? In a story entitled: 
' ' Chita : A Memory of Lost Island, ' ' v\^ritten by Laf cadio Hearne, 
and published in Vol. 76 of Harper's Magazine, the author de- 
scribes the state of the weather which prevailed during an epi- 
demic of yellow fever at New Orleans, in midsummer of 1867. 
The description is in a fictional writing and while it may be 
termed in a measure poetical, by leaving out the poetic feature, 
it will be found graphic and may be accepted as exact. 

CONDITIONS OF ATMOSPHERE. 

''Heat motionless and ponderous. The steel blue of the 
sky bleached from the furnace circle of the horizon ; — the luke- 
warm river ran yellow and noiseless as a torrent of fluid wax. 
Even sounds seemed blunted by the heaviness of the air ; — 
the rumbling of wheels, the reverberation of footsteps fell half- 
toned upon the ear, like sounds that visit a dozing brain." 

''Daily, almost at the same hour, the continuous sense of 
atmospheric oppression became thickened ; — a packed herd of 
low bellying clouds lumbered up from the gulf ; crowded blackly 
against the sun; flickered, thundered, and burst in torrential 
rain— tepid, perpendicular— and vanished utterly away. Then, 
more furiously than before the sun flamed down ; — roofs and 
pavements steamed; the streets seemed to smoke; the air grew 
suffo<iating with vapor ; and the luminous city filled with a faint, 
sickly odor, — a stale smell, as of dead leaves suddenly disin- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 69 



terred from wet mould, — as of grasses decomposing after a 
flood. Something saffron speckled the slimy water of the gut- 
ters ; — sulphur some called it ; others feared even to give it a 
name! Was it only the wind blown pollen of some innocuous 
plant ? I do not know ; but to many it seemed as if the Invisible 
Destructor was scattering visible seed ! . . . . Such were the days ; 
and each day the terror stricken city offered up its hecatomb to 
Death; and the faces of all the dead were as yellow as flame. 
Lime was poured into the gutters ; and huge purifying fires Y\^ere 
kindled after sunset." 

''The nights began with a black heat;— there were houi^ 
when the acrid air seemed to ferment for stagnation, and to 
burn the bronchial tubing ; — then, toward morning, it Vv^ould 
grow chill with venomous vapors, with morbific dews, — till the 
sun came up to lift the torpid moisture, and to fill the buildings 
with oven-heat. And the interminable procession of mourners 
and hearses and carriages again began to circulate between the 
centers of life and death ; — and long trains and steam-ships 
rushed from the port, with hea^y burden of fugitives." 

''Wealth might flee: yet even in flight there was peril. 
Men, who m.ight have been saved oy the craft of experienced 
nurses at home, hurriedly departed in apparent health, un- 
consciously carr^'ing in their blood the toxic principle of a 
malady unknown to physicians of the West and North ; — and 
they died upon their way, by the road-side, by the river-banks, 
in woods, in deserted stations, on the cots of quarantine hos- 
pitals. ' ' 

The writer evidently believes in the germ theory of yellow 
fever; believes that it is caused by a specific poison. He does 
not seem to be able to appreciate the fact that the very atmos- 
pheric conditions he describes— the intense solar heat and the 
excessive moisture were sufficient to engender the disease. To 
be sure, his is not a scientific article, but he voices the general 
convictions of the people of the city that the epidemic was of 
microbic origin and therefore they had no room in their minds 



70 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

to entertain an idea that was entirely opposed to those convic- 
tions. Yet those atmospheric conditions constituted their en- 
vironment and embraced the chief factors of causation which 
in every case gave rise to an attacK of the disease. If the physi- 
cians who practiced in Xew Orleans had understood the true 
nature of yellow fever and if they had known how to treat it 
correctly there would not have been a single death from that 
disease during the epidemic of 1867, nor subsequently in any- 
epidemic. If they had known they would have been forearmed 
and would have treated all cases on the principle of ohsta prin- 
cipiis, and by so doing they would have aborted or prevented 
the development of the disease in every case. How? The air 
was deficient in that life sustaining compound, free ammonia, 
which is so essential to the sustentation of health. Xow if the 
physicians, when they observed the first signs of failing health 
in any person had administered to that person some bromide of 
ammonium— the only substance which will supply to the system 
what it needs in consequence of the deficiency of free ammonia 
in the air or of the exhaustion of the same substance in the body, 
their patients would have been able to withstand all the depress- 
ing effects of the climate in which they lived: would have been, 
strengthened by the efficacious properties of the remedy to en- 
dure the trying effects of the noxious weather: and would have 
passed through the ordeal of excessive heat and moisture un- 
scathed by disease. Alas ! for the ignorance and superstition- 
of men. These have caused thousands of deaths,— of persons 
whose lives might be saved for years of future usefulness. The 
work of these twin relics of barbarism are visible every day 
alongside of the works of science and enlightenment. ^leanwhile 
the heads of our universities and illustrious men of science wave 
their little rush-lights and think that the rays of knowledge 
thence proceeding penetrate to the darkest corners in which 
ignorance and superstition are entrenched. But they don't. 
Like the torch in the hand of the statue of ''Libertv Enlighten- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 71 



ing the World" on Bedloes island their rush-lights illumine but 
a very small section of the earth. 

In view of the opinions expressed in the preceding para- 
.graph the author gives expression to the following bold utter- 
ance:— Xo physician however eminent he may be or however 
Jiumble in the ranks he may be is fitted to practice his pro- 
fession unless he understands the nature of gangasthenia and 
can readily recognize it by its mildest symptoms and unless he 
has a thorough knoAvledge of the therapeutic properties of the 
bromide of ammonium. And no person is competent to con- 
trovert this statement. 

THE CASE OF MR. GROTJAX 

Will illustrate some of the points heretofore presented. Peter 
Adolph Grot j an, a native of Hamburg, trained in a counting 
house, came to this country in 1796. In 18C4 he entered into 
partnership with Capt. Woodbridge Grafton, of Salem, Mass., 
to trade in the West Indies. He wrote an account of his ad- 
ventures, the MS. of which remained, at his death, in the hands 
of his eldest daughter and was published in Yol. 15 of Scribner's 
Monthly from which the following extracts are taken: — 

"During my stay at Santiago de Cuba the yellow fever was 
very fatal to Americans, and other new comers, but having been 
reasoned in the United States during the years 1897, '93 and 
'99 and not being in any way alarmed I escaped its baneful in- 
fluence. A young gentleman of Philadelphia, with whom I had 
a slight acquaintance, arrived at Santiago as supercargo. As 
soon as he understood that the fever was prevalent, he got much 
alarmed and asked me what course I advised him to pursue. I 
told him, if possible, to divest his mind of all fear, to be mod- 
erately but constantl}^ occupied with exercises not very laborious, 
to taste no ardent spirits or heating Avines, to drink claret, 
lemonade and other cooling drinks called tisanes, to eat moder- 
ately, take warm baths two or three times a week, go to bed 
early, and take a walk and a dish of coffee at sunrise ; and if he 



72 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



could not divest himself of fear to visit the highlands in the in- 
terior for a week or two. I have reason to believe that my ad- 
vice, as is generally the case was not followed, because it did 
not suit him; for, in a few days after this interview, I learned 
that he had taken the malignant fever and was very ill. I vis- 
ited him instantly, but found his condition without hope. In 
one short day afterward he died in my arms, after a very severe, 
delirious struggle, during w^hich it took all my strength to hold 
him. We were alone in the room, the servant, his only attend- 
ant, having gone for the doctor. When the struggle at last sub- 
sided, he sank exhausted upon the bed and asked for a glass 
of water. He died in the act of drinking it and fell back a 
corpse. ' ' 

In Mr. Grotjan's efforts to save the life of a Captain Bal- 
lenger, who commanded a slaver which had been captured by 
a British man-of-war and sent to Kingston as a prize he in- 
curred an attack of yellow fever. Capt. Ballenger was ac- 
cused under oath by two slaver's seamen with having been on 
board the British frigate Hermione, when, ten years previously, 
her crew had mutined and murdered all her officers. The ac- 
cusation was false and v/as made out of a spirit of revenge. 
Mr. Grotjan learned that the captain was about to be arrested 
and started to warn him. He says: "I learned that he had 
gone to a board-yard, about a mile and a half from the city, on 
private business. To this place I proceeded at a rapid pace, 
and at midday in June when the rays of the sun are nearly 
perpendicular. There I found him and communicated to him 

all that I had seen and heard We stood in a distant and 

private part of the yard, exposed to the heat of the day, but 
my mind was so much engaged that nearly three ho-lirs passed 
imperceptibly away in consultation." [They agreed upon ar- 
rangements for the captain's safety and Mr. Grotjan started 
on his return.] 

He continues:— "I had not been long on the road when I 
began to feel the consequences of my fatigue, exposure, and 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 73 



agitation of mind. I felt a slight pain in the back of my head, 
a dry heat without perspiration, and a lassitude and pain in my 
limbs. Wlien I reached home and told my host how I felt he 
recommended a glass of hot punch and retiring immediately to 
bed. . . . From the rapidly increasing symptoms I felt con- 
vinced that I had that day contracted yellow fever in the natural 
way, from heat, exposure and over-exertion .... I had no 
sooner retired and assumed a horizontal position than I began 
to vomit at short intervals .... Although I felt much dis- 
tressed that evening I remained perfectly sensible. About a 
week elapsed, during which I had been frequently delirious, 
when during one night I had the most horrible feelings and 
sensations that I ever experienced, and my nurse subsequently 
said that, from hour to hour, she did not expect me to live for 
manj^ minutes. It is remarkable that my senses and recollec- 
tions were perfectly alive, but troubled with acute and fan- 
tastic appearances. Whether my eyes were open or shut I saw 
the room full of the most frightful visages glaring at me as the 
central object. (Note: This phenomenon is termed a phan- 
tasmagoria, is characteristic of yellow fever, and is one of the 
subjective s\^mxptoms of gangasthenia.) Toward morning I fell 
asleep and when I awoke found myself in the first perspira- 
tion of my illness. I was so weak that I could scarcely speak. 
Hitherto nothing had remained on my stomach nor had I had 
any evacuation except by artificial means. I asked for a glass 
of Rhenish wine, and it was brought to me. About half of it 
did not alone taste grateful but remained with me undisturbed. 
The crisis of my disorder had taken place the preceding night 
and the result was favorable. From that day I began very 
shortly to recover, but it was more than two weeks afterward 
before I felt strong enough to walk." 

For several reasons this is a most remarkable record. The 
statement by the writer that he took the disease "in the natural 
way, from heat, exposure and over-exertion" is the most posi- 



14: THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



tive proof that can be derived from any source that yellow fever 
is not infectious and it must be admitted that he has pointed 
out the factors of causation which produced the very severe 
attack of yellow fever from w^hich he sulfered. Fear was not 
one of those factors for we find him visiting the young Philadel- 
phia gentleman in Santiago as soon as he learned of the illness 
of that person and remaining with him until the end. Accord- 
ing to all the recognised laws and established beliefs regarding 
the infectious nature of the disease Mr. Grotjan should have 
contracted it when he exposed himself to such alleged infection 
by nursing the young man who was ill with yellow fever. He 
did not so contract it though he might have been covered with 
black vomit ejected by the patient during his delirious struggles. 
Mr. Grotjan contracted the disease "in the natural way" and 
that is the only way in which any person can or ever did con- 
tract it, because it is produced by or engendered of the environ- 
ment, and there is no germ to act as its cause, for none has been 
found and none will ever be found. Possibly ^.Ir. Grotjan was 
bitten by a mosquito. There is no doubt that he had been bitten 
often and by many different mosquitos but— the subtleties of 
modern science are either too abstruse or are too ridiculous to 
be pursued further on this line. The theory, however, may as 
well be adverted to in this connection as elsewhere. 

MOSQUITO THEORY. 

In Decem- 
ber 1903, the International Sanitary Convention met in Wash- 
ington, D. C., and L. O. Howard writing in the Century Maga- 
zine for October 1903, in reference to the meeting of the con- 
vention says, that he "was greatly impressed by the fact that 
this body, representing the most advanced medical thought of 
the Americas and undoubtedly the soundest judgment in sani- 
tary matters, unanimously accepted as absolutely demonstrated 
fact that certain mosquitos carry yellow fever— constitute the 
only means by which it is spread. This statement is incorrect in 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 75- 



two particulars. The convention did not "unanimously" accept. 
There are always in such a collection of asses a few wise men 
who invariably dissent from all asinine conclusions, and there- 
fore the acceptance of the alleged fact could not have been un- 
animous. Second the alleged fact was not, is not a fact, but 
sludge which is the product of brain-ooze. Now this alleged 
fact was said to have been established by experiments made at 
Quemado, Cuba. Eleven persons were bitten by contaminated 
mosquitoes. With nine of them there was no results. ( !) : with 
two yellow fever appeared. In one of these two cases there had 
been possible opportunity for infection from other sources and 
in one the circumstances were such as to exclude any other 
source of infection and the commission, therefore, [mark this^ 
conclusion] announced that the mosquito serves as the inter- 
mediate host of the parasite (germ?) of yellow fever, "Oh! lame 
and impotent conclusion." Oh! Rags and tatters of science. 
This is the very lamest conclusion ever presented for the con- 
sideration of rational men. And now some fool is out with 
"Directions for the Destruction of Yellow Fever Mosquitoes" 
which he sent to Congress with the expectation that his pamphlet 
would be printed, but the resolution ordering it printed was 
referred to a committee and it will find sepulture there. The 
statement of Mr. Howard regarding the mosquito theory con- 
cludes with these very significant words :— "The causative micro- 
organism of yellow fever has not been found". And it might 
have been added with truth: It never will be discovered for 
there is no such thing. Compare, if you please, the case in 
which a patient contracts the disease "in the natural way" and 
the case in which the patient is alleged to have had the morbific 
agent introduced into his system by the bite or sting of a 
mosquito and what is the conclusion that rational persons will 
draw as to the causation of the disease in the two cases ? Obvi- 
ously enough Mr. Grot j an 's attack was caused and only could 
have been caused by the conditions which he has detailed. And 



76 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



obviously enough the person who drew the conclusion that the 
attack of the disease in the other case was due to the bite of a 
mosquito and the person who accepts that conclusion are, not 
to put too fine a point on it, a pair of blathering idiots. The 
theory that mosquitos carry yellow fever will die a natural death 
and the author proposes for its epitaph: "Conceived by fools 
and died a-borniu." 

But Mr. Howard, not content to give currency to the bald- 
erdash which he heard uttered by that aggregation of wiseacres 
in Washington, ''drops into" prophecy and delivers himself of 
the following unfortunate forecast which most unhappily 
escaped the blue pencil of the editor of the Century Magazine. 
He says: "It may be safely predicted that never again in the 
history of the United States will an epidemic of yellow fever 
occur." "What never?" "Well, hardly ever!" But Avhy? 
oh! why? "Because" Mr. Howard explains, "a mosquito must 
be blamed for one of the greatest of human ills." The ex- 
planation is not quite clear and is very weak but if it satisfied 
the editor of the Century Magazine it would be hypercritical to 
find fault with it. But as to its fulfillment the inhabitants oi 
San Antonio and of Laredo, Texas,* may tell about that. The 
author, however, contents himself with characterizing the pre- 
diction as banal and that is a very harsh epithet to apply to 
anj'thing. [The author soliloquizes: "Banal, canal, anal. 
Banal! I don't seem to remember what that word means. It 
is not a common word. Those word-slingers— novelists and space- 
writers — sometimes pick up a thing kind of promiscuous like 
and let it drop with the remark that it is banal and that settles 
the matter, for, to declare a thing banal is supposed to be final. 
Editors occasionally use the word but they do not know its mean- 
ing any more than anybody else and when they do use it they 
show that they are IT. But banal is not final for there is some- 
thing that is banaler than Mr. Hovv^ard's prediction and that is 
the mosquito yellow fever theory which is the banalest thing ever 



=And of New Orleans in the year 1905. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 77 



evolved from the minds of men. Truly David Starr Jordan is 
a wise man, for he once wrote: "There is no nonsense so un- 
scientific that men called educated will not accept as science." 
He is recognized as an educated man and yet he accepts as 
science the doctrines of the germ theory as applied to cholera 
and yellow fever for he thinks that it would not be wise to re- 
move the quarantine against them. [^'Quid rides, doctissime 
doctor?'^] 

MR. GROT JAN 'S CASE AGAIN. 

But to return to the case of Mr. Grot Jan. If a physician 
who understood the nature of gangasthenia and who was ac- 
quainted with the medical properties of bromide of ammonium 
had been called to see Mr. Grot j an, when he got back to Kings- 
ton from his trip to that lumber-yard to meet Capt. Ballenger, 
he Y\'Ould have recognized at a glance that Mr. Grot j an was 
affected with gangasthenia in a mild form and he would im- 
mediately have administered to his patient a dose of bromide 
of ammonium with directions to repeat the same at intervals of 
an hour until the patient dropped off to sleep or say four to 
six doses. The result would have been that Mr. Grot j an vv^ould 
not have vomited as soon as he assumed the recumbent attitude 
and at no time thereafter during the same night : that he vvould 
have slept soundly, would have awakened refreshed by his 
slumber and would have had a good appetite for his breakfast. 
In a word he would have been so nearly recovered from the 
fatigue lassitud-C and pain which were the effects of the ex- 
haustion produced by exposure to excessive solar heat, over- 
exertion and mental strain that he would have needed but a 
few doses of the medicine the next day to restore him complete- 
ly. In fact the attack of disease with which he was threatened 
would have been prevented ; the fever would have been aborted : 
the sufferings which he endured in consequence of the very 
severe siege of yellow fever through which he passed and which 
brought him so near to the gates of death that he could hear 



78 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



the hinges creak, would have been averted— and all this by the 
timely use of a simple, harmless, efficacious remedy. Now, the 
author is not a prophet, nor yet the son of a prophet, nor is he 
gifted with much foresight but he ventures to adopt Mr. 
Howard's prediction that "never again in the history of the 
United States will an epidemic of yellow fever occur" after the 
knowledge of the ganglionic theory of the nature of that disease 
and of the therapeutic virtues of bromide of ammonium have 
been diffused throughout the length and breadth of the land and 
the originators and propagators of the mosquito theory may 
''put that in their pipes and smoke it," for it is the truth and no 
dammed lie like that theory. 

There never has been a medical writer who expatiated on the 
subject of yellow fever but who has described the condition of 
the stomach in that disease to be one of inflammation and it is 
entirely consistent with their generally erroneous views as to its 
cause that they should be mistaken about the condition of the 
stomach. In the ganglionic theory there is no place for in- 
flammation of any of the internal organs of the body and one 
of the errors most frequently encountered in medical works is 
that gastritis exists as a concomitant of yellow fever— a statement 
which means that an anomalous and paradoxical condition could 
exist when all the evidences of disordered action point to conges- 
tion as the only condition present. This is proved by Mr. Grot- 
jan's case. He records that when the crisis had passed— that is 
when the function of the ganglia had been restored by the vis 
medicatrix naturae and they had resumed operations again, so the 
blood was propelled in normal current through the arteries once 
more, and all congestion had disappeared the stomach made its 
demand known without delay and the patient asked for ' ' a glass 
of Rhenish wine"— a glass of wine meant in those days a 
tumblerful. When it was brought he drank half of it and ''it 
did not alone taste grateful but remained with me undisturbed. ' ' 
Now, any physician who understands anything about gastritis 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 79 



knows that there is no sudden spontaneous subsidence of the 
inflammation and he also knows that if ^Ir. Grot j an 's stomach 
had been inflamed the wine would have been ejected very soon. 
Instead it remained with him undisturbed and the reasonable 
supposition is that, his stomach being in a receptive mood, the 
second half of the wine followed the first in a very little while. 
The lessons of the Grotjan case— which he who runs may 
read— are that the disease was contracted in the natural way 
and was not caused by germs but by the factors of causation 
which constituted the environment: that the stomach was not 
inflamed but congested: that the attack might have been pre- 
vented or aborted if proper treatment had been employed in 
the prodromic stage of the disease and that recovery occurred 
through restoration of the ganglia to their normal condition— 
and it may be added as a correlative that death ensues in con- 
sequence of their softening and disintegration. The rational 
deduction from these facts is that the only method of treatment 
worthy of being termed scientific is that which proceeds, on the 
principle of ohsta principiis, to use the only remedy which is 
indicated by the sjnnptoms at the onset of the disease. By this 
means and by this means alone yellow fever in the United States 
will be so restricted that an epidemic of the disease will never 
occur again. 

ANOTHER SPECIFIC. 

But what is the use of publishing such truths ; no attention 
will be paid to them. Physicians all subscribe to the code of 
ethics which requires that when they make any important dis- 
covery in medicine they shall publish it for the benefit of hu- 
manity and of their medical brethren. Many do this because 
they are honorable men and consider that it is obligatory on 
them to disclose their discoveries and not use them for their own 
advantage. Impelled by this sentiment the author set forth in 
a number of articles which appeared in the jMichigan Medical 
News, a journal published at Detroit, the ganglionic theory of 



80 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

certain diseases evolved by him and the result was that his 
theory has passed into temporary oblivion. Since then yellow 
fever has occurred in epidemic form in several southern cities 
and medical men have treated the disease on the ancient lines 
and have so continued to treat it up to the present time and the 
author's revelation is regarded to this day as a dead letter. His 
theory has been adumbrated by the incessant work of the 
bacterists : the valuable therapeutic agent pointed out by him to 
be used as a specific preventive of yellow fever has been cast 
aside and the disease still commits its customary ravages in those 
communities in which it makes its appearance. What's the 
use then of publishing one's discoveries. There is absolutely 
no use in attempting to enlighten the minds of men which are 
sodden with ignorance and superstition— at least for one v/ho is 
among the humblest in the ranks of the profession— as the author 
is. If he were one of the "Hyas Tyhees" (big Injuns) of medi- 
cine he might have had a hearing and obtained some recognition 
but his lucubrations were unnoticed : his contributions to science 
were not accepted and because the child of his brain was accord- 
ed no welcome, and became, as it were, an outcast he determined 
that if it ever fell to his lot to make any discoveries in the future 
to keep them locked in his own mind, and he has abided thereby. 
This resolution sprang from deep disgust at the reception accord- 
ed to his advanced views and arose from discouragement at the 
non-recognition of his efforts to substitute true science for ignor- 
ance. Perhaps the hyas tyhees of medicine do not like his style 
because they prefer the didactic style: Well, he considers di- 
dacticism as stupid and banal. But "there are others" and 
though they are few in number they have expressed admiration 
of his style which has been declared to* be ''vigorous and log- 
ical." ''Which, the same" can not be said of various lucubra- 
tions emanating from the bacterists. However, the author has 
made one other important medical discovery since then which he 
has not made public and not alone because of the determination 



THE QUEST OP THE GEEM. 81 

previously expressed but because he was aware that it would 
serve no beneficial purpose. He knew that if he would make 
known the fact that he had discovered a specific for a disease 
that is written down "incurable" in the books that he would 
find no person to give credence to the statement: and that he 
would have the epithet ''crank" applied to him. Now, if he 
were one of the Hyas Tyhees of medicine and made such a state- 
ment, in regard to a particular disease, some attention would 
be paid to the announcement but the Hyas Tyhees consider this 
one incurable. One of them, Prof. Bartholow, who has written 
a treatise on the practice of medicine states that there is no 
specific for the disease in question. Another, Dr. Wm. Osier, 
who is also the author of a work on medical practice, states 
therein that he has never witnessed a recovery from the disease 
and he has seen and treated a large number of patients who were 
affected by it and they all succumbed to it. These gentlemen 
are away up in the profession and their statements are given 
credence over and above anything the author might say to the 
contrary. A patient affected with this disease goes to a physi- 
cian and he, on examination, makes a correct diagnosis and says 
your case is hopeless. He takes down Bartholow and Osier and 
reads his sentence to him and the man "goes av/ay sorrowful" 
for his mind is impressed with the idea that there is no help for 
him. Suppose the author met this man and on learning of the 
condition of things would declare that he had knowledge of a 
specific for the disease. The man would exclaim: "Who in 

are you anyway? Why here's Bartholow and Osier and a 

lot more away up men who say there is no cure for me." The 
author replies: "Though ten thousand Bartholows and ten 
thousand Osiers and half a million other nincompoop doctors 
all say the same thing I can cure you for I have discovered a 
specific for the disease." Now that is an emphatic statement 
but do you suppose that the man would give any heed to it? 
Not on your life. He would shake his head and trudge along 



82 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

tmittering to himself something about ''the dammed crank." 

The author has a friend in a nearby city and to that friend he 

gave the information that he possessed knowledge of a specific 
for the disease in question and requested him to look up some 
patients affected with it and recommend them to come here and 
obtain the treatment which would cure them. This was summer 
of 1903. My friend found two persons affected with the dis- 
ease and urged them to come here and assured them that they 
could be cured. They simply did not accept his statement as 
true: they knew better, for, do not Bartholow and Osier and 
other Hyas Tyhees of medicine declare that the disease is in- 
curable. One of these men died recently and the other is wait- 
ing for the inevitable end: he will not stir a step on a 20-mile 
journey to procure an infallible remedy for his disease. The 
author has learned of a case of the disease in Milwaukee and he 
desired a lady of his acquaintance to make known to the friends 
of the sick man the fact he could be cured by means of a specific 
which the author would prepare for him. When the statement 
was made to the patient's wife that lady referring to the author 
asked: "Well, if he can do such great things what is he doing 
in the Soldier's Home?" With all due respect to the good lady 
the reply may be made: "That is none of your business!" 
Her query is aside from the matter presented for her considera- 
tion and exhibits a natural peculiarity of the human mind. If 
a person is believed to be inspired his statements will receive im- 
mediate and unquestioning credence from his hearers. Or if a 
person is regarded as having commandence concerning certain 
matters his utterances relating thereto will be accepted as cred- 
ible by those to whom they are addressed. But if a person is 
not considered to be inspired and commandence relative to cer- 
tain matters has not been ascribed to him, his hearers will be 
apt to inquire somewhat impertinently: "Who are you?" And 
this inquiry is prompted by a peculiarity of human nature which 
while it ordinarily exhibits a most astonishing credulity about 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 83 

things incapable of being understood will question the reliability 
of statements emanating from a source which it thinks it is able 
to pronounce judgment upon and so it throws doubt upon the 
statements and manifests mental acumen by a question concern- 
ing the personality of their author. Human nature does not 
ask, Are the statements true? but inquires, Are they likely to 
be true considering their source? And so the person not be- 
lieved to be inspired and the person without commandence can 
not obtain credence for their statements although they may be 
true and credence is given to contrary statements which are 
untrue because their authors are supposed to be inspired or to 
possess commandence in regard to those matters concerning which 
the statements have been made. However, to satisfy the curi- 
osity of the good lady referred to, and perhaps of some others 
who may make the same query mentally, the author will explain 
that he is an old man in his sixty-ninth year: that his life has 
been embittered by misfortunes: that he has become soured by 
disappointments and from having been one of the best-natured 
of men he is now often splenetic and morose: that he is finan- 
cially a poor man having no resources but his small pension de- 
rived from government: that he has never accumulated any 
money and having no home of his own he very gladly accepted 
the provision made for old soldiers by the bounty of our gener- 
ous Uncle Sam and came to this home, where is furnished abund- 
antly, without money and without price, all things necessary 
to existence ; where if he is sick he can be admitted to a hospital 
in which he will receive the best of medical care and be attended 
by trained nurses; where if he dies he will be given a soldier's 
funeral and be buried in a cemetery in which his grave will be 
kept green for ages to come;— in a word he is in an institution 
where under wise supervision all things are done decently and 
in order and he rejoices that he was a soldier. Madame or Sir; 
Is the explanation satisfactory? But what possible connection 
these matters have with the statement about the disease in ques- 



84 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

tion and its specific is inconceivable. Yon are affected with the 
disease and the specific for the disease is offered to yon. Those 
are matters which concern yon in the highest degree and you 
ask, not — is the statement true? but what sort of a person is the 
man who makes the ofter? Well, there you have a reply; do 
the above details enable you to judge if he who makes the state- 
ments is reliable or not. By no means. The only way you can 
judge of the matter is to put it to the test. The author admits 
that he is ignorant of many things about the nature of diseases 
and the properties of medicines but he claims to know a few 
things and these are two of the few things which he knows for 
certainties: he understands exactly the nature of this disease 
and with all other doctors that is a matter of conjecture, and 
he knows that the specific of which he has knowledge acts phy- 
siologically on that portion of the human system whence is de- 
rived the abnormal product which in excess loads the urine 
and gives it the characteristic that confers a name upon the dis- 
ease. By the way the name of the disease is diabetes. The ex- 
act source of the glucose is pointed out, actually demonstrated, 
by the physiological action of the specific and some day a new 
name for the disease will be invented which will indicate its true 
pathogeny in a much more precise way than its present designa- 
tion, which means literally ''pass-through". The author cured 
himself of an attack of diabetes in 1880 and there has been no 
recurrence of the disease in his case. He has treated since then 
two other male patients, affected in like manner, successfully 
with the same remedy. No restriction whatever is placed on the 
diet. The patients are directed to partake of sugar to satiety, 
until they no longer have desire for anything sweet. The author 
when he had diabetes, used to go to a confectionery store on 
Broadway (he was then in New York) when hungry for sweets 
and eat from the counter freshly-made candy until his huDger 
was satisfied, the clerk meanwhile keeping count of what he con- 
sumed. He usually did this twice a day about 10 a. m. and 4 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 85 

p. m. his desire for sweets being fiercest at those hours. This 
desire is an instinct of the physical nature and its promptings 
are above reason. It is scarcely worth while to note, except to 
show the absurdity of the practice that physicians in accordance 
with the instructions contained in the books, always interdict 
the use of sugar and of all starchy foods to their diabetic 
patients. The author declares such restriction of the diet to be 
not only absurd but cruel and unscientific— in fact it is a mon- 
strosity of practice begotten of illogical deduction by erroneous 
observation and as such is productive of very great harm be- 
cause the diabetics are affected with an intense longing which 
they are forbidden to gratify, and ungratified desire is always 
a disturbing factor. The one remedy selected, by the author, 
from the vast range of the materia medica, with which to treat 
himself was chosen as much by a physiological instinct of the 
same unerring kind as the physical instinct that prompts the 
diabetic to eat sugar, and he believes that if he had not com- 
plied with the dictates of that instinct and had chosen some 
other remedy or some combination of remedies the disease, in his 
case would have terminated as usual. And if he had not ad- 
ministered the same remedy to his two diabetic patients their 
cases would have terminated as such cases usually do. But 
this one remedy cured three diabetic patients and no other 
known remedy has ever been known to cure a single case of the 
disease, the author therefore claims that it is a specific for dia- 
betes. Now, though more than three hundred persons die of 
diabetes annually in New York city and more than one hundred 
and thirty die from this cause in Chicago and many more pass 
away from this disease in other large cities and throughout this 
country and in other countries, for reasons previously expressed 
the author declines to disclose the name of the specific and he 
further repeats his chief reasons: 1. That no physician would 
use the specific in the treatment of their diabetic patients but 
all would adhere to their present antiquated and unscientific 



86 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



methods; 2. That the author would not be ghen that just 
recognition by the Hyas Tyhees of medicine which he regards 
would be due to the merit of the discovery. But if any person 
who is affected with diabetes, whose eye may chance to light 
on these words desires to obtain some of the specific let such 
person address the author on the subject and for a money con- 
sideration he can procure enough of it to treat himself until he 
is completely recovered— until there is no longer a trace of sugar 
in his urine. During the use of the specific the diabetic is allowed 
to eat any kind of food he wants to eat— restriction on diet 
only as to quantity, he must not eat too much. The few last 
preceding lines are in reality an advertisement and it is so 
skilfully concealed that it will probably escape the observation 
of those to whom it is addressed. But we shall see. 



At this point in the course of the preparation of this book 
the author deems it proper to introduce an article written by 
him in 1880, being one of those published in Vol. lY of The 
Michigan Medical News. The subject is ''Yellow Fever." The 
article was inscribed to the National Board of Health but as 
that organization is defunct the author ventures to inscribe it 
to the American Public Health Association and to the Inter- 
national Sanitary Convention. The author thus conspicuously 
calls the attention of the members of those two prominent 
organizations to the matter of this article in order that they, 
by perusing it, may be led to relinquish the "Quest of the Germ" 
of yellow fever. He has no doubt that, if they will read this 
article and the preceding pages of this book, they will be con- 
vinced by the cases cited and the ratiocination based thereon 
that his views are correct and therefore there could have been 
no more appropriate motto than that which was originally 
placed above this article, to wit : four Greek words which meant— 
''Not Practice but Theory" would solve the mysteries of dis- 
ease, of this particular disease. By the way, isn't it funny 



THE QUEST OF THE GEEM. 87 



that some fool bacterist has not discovered that diabetes ia 
caused by a germ ? Perhaps it is and it may be that the reason 
the author's specific cures that disease is because it kills the 
germ— but the specific is not a germicide. 



YELLOW FEVER. 

Yellow fever is another of the "curious" and "singular" 
diseases which remains an unsolved problem of medicine. It 
is a remarkable fact that many of the ganglionic diseases have 
been termed curious or singular by medical writers and they 
seem most anomalous epithets to apply to any disease; but let 
that pass. It is a disgrace to the so-called science of medicine 
that with every opportunity to investigate and elucidate its 
nature, its true cause is still enshrined in mystery. Their Emi- 
nences attribute it to a poison in the blood, but they are "bark- 
ing up the wrong tree." (This pat metaphor is taken from the 
action of Col. Davy Crockett's dog.) They are on a still-hunt 
for a poison in the blood. This poison they fancy is real. Let 
us humor the fancy. There is a poison in the blood. It con- 
Bists of myriads of minute demons which exist in the blood. 
Zjnnosis is the mother of these demons. She pervades every 
situation in which the demons can breed and thrive, but especi- 
ally does she relish the blood of human beings. Let one of the 
demons find entrance, through the stomach or the air passages, 
to the blood, and Zymosis enters too, and begins to breed more 
demons. She brings them forth with the rapidity of thought, 
until in a short time the blood is populated with myriads of 
them. Each demon straddles a corpuscle and goes racing up 
and down through the vessels raising Cain with the circulation. 
The demons in their fury gallop their steeds— the corpuscles— 



89 



along so rapidly that the blood gets heated up. They are fiery 
devils and enjoy the heat. They get warmed to the work and 
drive the faster, and when the blood gets red-hot they proceed 
to fortify themselves and block up the avenues so they can not 
be driven out. A lot of them gather in the kidneys and drive 
the swollen corpuscles into the arterioles and pile them up and 
jam them down, and at length that outlet is blocked up. The 
doctors look very grave at this and shake their heads and say: 
^'Suppression, due to the virulence of the poison." If they 
could only see the gleeful little demons dancing and capering 
around they would have a different idea. Another lot attack 
the stomach, but the vessels here are too delicate, and yield to 
the pressure and burst. The blood exuded from the ruptured 
vessels is vomited and again the doctors look grave and shake 
their heads and say: "Black vomit." Some think the poison 
can be found in that, but one wise doctor, who denies the ex- 
istence of a specific poison, offers to drink some of the black 
vomit and to prove his sincerity does so without harm to him- 
self. (Actual occurrence, some years ago, in New Orleans.) 
But the vomit is harmless for the demons have escaped from 
it, because the blood is no longer in motion and they can not 
gallop their steeds up and down in it. Another lot of demons 
attack the nerves and play hide-and-seek among the nerve-cells, 
which makes the nerves ache and fairly howl with pain. The 
demons laugh at this until their sides ache and little tears run 
down their cheeks. 

Meanwhile the doctors are not idle. They send other 
demons into the blood with warrant to throttle, strangle and 
drive out the first demons. The work gets poorly done, and at 
length nature, finding her hand-maid, science, a poor stick, ral- 
lies her forces and does the business by dispossessing and elimi- 
ninating the demons herself. 

These demons do not like cold and presently a frost comes 
and they depart to a tropical climate, except those v/ho linger 



90 



too long and get untimely nipped. They return to their home 
from vrhich they have only come on an excursion. 

Meanwhile the job of catching some of these demons has 
become a national affair, and the National Board of Nincom- 
poops is authorized to catch any amount of them. It is satis- 
factorily shown that these demons have a substantial existence, 
for, nothing else could cause such a fever in the blood. That 
is an unanswerable argument. But the hunting of these demons 
being an expensive business, money is needed for the purpose. 
The money is forthcoming and an Eminence is dispatched to the 
exotic country where the demons dwell. He searches every- 
where, sifts the atmosphere and analyzes the earth, the water 
and the blood, but does not bag a demon. After many months 
spent in the useless search he returns and says so. The presi- 
dent of the Board of Nincompoops says it is a great pity, for 
if he had only caught even a single little one and fastened it 
on a piece of glass so that we could exhibit it we might get an 
appropriation to build our frost-ship, for the demons are afraid 
of frost. But now we will have to depend on paper pellets 
and quarantine. (Quarantine is a great hulking fellow that 
stands at the mouths of water-ways — the demons travel by water 
—and shoos them away.) 

This fable teaches that the asses of the profession are usual- 
ly selected to be members of boards of health. These fellows 
appear to the eyes of ordinary mortals to be dignified, erudite 
and profound. "When they are probed, however, it is found 
that their dignity is the thin varnish of their arrogance; their 
erudition consists of the borrowed covering of their asininity 
and their shallowness is exhibited in the results of their obser- 
vations, which show that they only look at the surface of things. 

They are "barking up the wrong tree." The existence of 
a poison in yellow fever is assumed when it would be more ra- 
tional to assume its non-existence. This poison is a chimera, a 
creature of the imagination begotten of ignorance and super- 



91 



stition. The light of science is indeed but a rush-light if it 
can not dispel the darkness that surrounds the nature of this 
disease. Putting aside all idea of a poison let us see what illu- 
mination of the subject will proceed from a penny dip. [This 
ironical simile is supposed to mean the writer's reference to his 
own intellect by which he would have it understood that he has 
a very humble opinion of his mental powers— ironically speak- 
ing.] 

Yellow fever is not a fever. (This sounds dogmatic 
enough, but not more so than the enunciations of medical writers 
in general.) The very name is a misnomer and misleading, 
and shows that medical science has made no progress in this 
particular since the days of Galen. He defines fever to be 
calor praeter naturam, and the incorrect definition holds good 
today. 

Yellow fever is a hyperthermy. Hyperthermy is one thing : 
fever is another. In hyperthermy the ganglia, the sources of 
normal heat, are depressed. All calorification of the body is 
due to the action of the nervous system. But the ganglia being 
rendered inoperative by reason of the depression, the law of 
compensation steps in and the burden of calorification is thrown 
upon the cerebro-spinal division of the nervous system. This 
law means simply that when one organ is disabled the burden 
of its function must, perforce, be assumed by its fellovv'. Here 
the burden of heat production is cast upon the cerebro-spinal 
nervous system and the governor of the heating apparatus being 
out of order, the caloric generated is excessive and irregularly 
distributed. Of course to produce this effect the nerves have 
to exert an undue amount of force. In other words hyperther- 
my is due to hypersthenia of the cerebro-spinal nerves and 
per contra fever is due to hypersthenia of the ganglia. The 
theory will hold water. For hyperthermy can be prevented or 
banished not by an anti-febrific but by an anti-hyp erthermic 
remedy, that is by an agent which restores the sthenicity of the 



92 



ganglia and produces co-sthenicity between the two divisions of 
the nervous system, whereas this agent has no control or in- 
fluence over the febrile condition. And this proves the theory 
to be true. 

Yellow fever is a disease, the chief characteristic of which i& 
general idiopathic passive congestion, and this condition of the 
blood in its relation to the containing vessels is due to general 
gangasthenia. A single prodromic symptom of the disease in- 
terpreted by the light of an emotional expression gives the loca- 
tion of the congestion, and points out the kind of gangasthenia 
to which the congestion is due. Blushing caused by the feeling- 
of self-consciousness or the emotion of shame, produces a temp- 
orary diffused redness of the countenance. The rosy suffusion 
of the face is accounted for by the explanation that the circu- 
lation of the blood in the arterioles has been temporarily im- 
peded. The pathology of a blush is evanescent arterious con- 
gestion. In the beginning of yellow fever a bright scarlet hue 
spreads over the checks— a permanent blush, which, as the dis- 
ease progresses, changes to a dusky purplish red color. This 
flushing of the face is due to arterious congestion. All idio- 
pathic passive congestion is due to gangasthenia, and the con- 
gestion of yellow fever being arterious must be attributed to 
arterio-motor gangasthenia. In the incipiency of the disease 
the condition is mild and when the disease is fully developed it 
becomes acute so that in the stage of complete development 
yellow fever maj^ be properly designated as acute, general, 
arterio-motor gangasthenia cum icterus. The conjoined icterus 
being due to the general condition is added to the name to de- 
note the particular disease and to distinguish if from diseases 
of the same character but which show differences of feature. 
Thus ''milk-sickness" could be called acute, general, arterio- 
motor gangasthenia sine icterus for the two diseases are identical 
except in this particular of the jaundice. 

Sunstroke may be instanced as the type of the ganglionic 



93 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



diseases. Cholera will then stand at the head of the hypother- 
mies and yellow fever at the head of the hyperthermies. With 
change of environment these two diseases are almost inter- 
changeable, Thus, if the individual in whom yellow fever is 
developed at Havana were in Calcutta the disease would assume 
the shape of cholera. It goes without saying then that the en- 
vironment is the cause of this disease as Vvcll as of cholera. 
Yellow fever and cholera are in some respects the converse of 
each other. In the one the serum, of the blood passes from the 
veins and is ejected per aniim while the corpuscular portion 
remains in the vessels. In the other the corpuscular part of 
the blood is ejected per or em, while the serum is left to circu- 
late and gives the "gaseous" pulse of the disease. 

The consecutive abnormal heat which sometimes supervenes 
during recovery from choleras is hyperthermy to which if icterus 
were added it would be almost identical with yellow fever. This 
denotes in some measure their interchangeability. If it were 
possible in yellow fever to shift the depression from the arterio- 
motors, to the veno-motors, the disease would without doubt be 
converted into cholera and vice versa. This is not an "adumbra- 
tion of the truth," but is truth itself shining out clear and 
bright through the clouds of error. 

It is unnecessary to trace out the symptoms of yellow fever 
and suggest a^^lan of treatment adapted to the indications, 
because, if the single remedy, herein recommended, be employed 
at the proper stage of the disease it will never develop into a 
virulent form. 

A number of years ago some phj^sician— name forgotten— 
observed that the excretions in yellow fever were highly am- 
moniacal, and hence he deduced that ammonia in any form was 
inadmissible in the treatment of the disease. The observation is 
an undoubted fact but the deduction is erroneous. The body is 
in some sort a laboratory and its varied products are in great 
measure the result of chemical action, especially so when vital 



94 THE QUEST OP THE GEEM. 

processes are perverted. Excess of ammonia in yellow fever as 
well as in typhus is supposed to be derived from the conversion 
of urea into that product; but there always remains an excess 
of urea. It may be possible that ammonia as a normal product 
in normal quantity is the physiological stimulus of the ganglia, 
and its excess in the blood and excretions is due to the fact 
that they have become incapable of being acted On by it. Or, 
perhaps there has been an increased demand for ammonia and 
the supply being derived from a wrong source and of improper 
quality is rejected as unfit for the purpose for which it is de- 
signed. At all events whatever may be the cause of its excess 
it must be taken as an evidence of its deficiency in amount of 
proper quality, and construed as an indication for the admin- 
istration of ammonia as a remedy. 

This is, however, not the only indication for the use of am- 
monia in this disease. Every symptom demands it in the one 
form in which ammonia can be administered to obtain its fullest 
and most potent effect and devoid of harmful action, and that is 
in the form of bromide of ammonium. This beautiful, white, 
stable salt, bland and unirritating in its operation is derived from 
the combination in certain proportion of two fluid substances; 
both of which are volatile, acrid and pungent. It seems as 
though it were specially designed to meet the "unknown ele- 
ment" of the congestive diseases. It is an extraordinary fact 
in the history of medicine that this remedy has been so long 
consigned to obscurity: its potent and valuable properties un- 
discovered and unknown. When it shall be assigned its proper 
rank it will be found to tower above its fellows and will be 
recognized as one of the Sampsons of the materia medica. This 
suggests a surmise that perhaps there are many other obscure 
remedies, whose medicinal virtues and therapeutic properties are 
not correctly understood, and gives ground for the hope that 
the medical millenium will yet dawn, when there will be found 
to be a specific for every disease. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



The ''damask check" is the invariable precursory sign of 
yellow fever and of typhus. It can be recognized at a glance. 
A short time ago a woman came to town from a nearby lumber 
camp and applied to a physician for medical help : she ob- 
tained a prescription and procured some medicine. I accident- 
ally met her on the street and exchanged a few words with her 
in the way of greeting. Without asking her any questions, by 
a glance at her face and from the querulous, atonic sound of 
her voice, I seized the clew to her condition. I knew that 
the medicine prescribed for her would not meet her case and 
that unless she received the right kind of treatment she would 
become seriously ill. I expressed my convictions to her em- 
ployer who had brought her to town, and told him just how she 
felt and that there was but one remedy for her disorder. She 
returned to the camp and her employer informed her of my 
statements. She used the remedies which had been prescribed 
for her by the other physician, that day without any benefit. 
In the evening her employer returned to town and desired me 
to prescribe for her. I gave the bromide of ammonium. The 
result was that the woman recovered entirely and the severe 
attack of disease with which she was threatened was warded 
off. [In extenuation of the seemingly unethical course pursued 
in relation to this case, I desire to say, that while I strive to 
regulate my conduct by the spirit, I most heartily damn the 
letter of the Code.] 

This is one case out of hundreds of the same nature and 
might and will yet be the history of thousands and tens of 
thousands of cases of what would otherwise be yellow fever, 
when the therapeutic uses of this remedy become generally 
known and the true nature of this disease is thoroughly under- 
stood. It will be perceived from this case that the right appli- 
cation of this remedy depends upon a proper appreciation of 
the condition to which it is applicable. This is the result of 
a correct comprehension of the signs presented by it, which is 



96 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



to be acquired only by observation and experience. Thus tlie 
administration of the remedy becomes an act of judgment, and 
not, as is usually the case in prescribing medicine, the per- 
functory exercise of a mental habit. But if the condition can 
not be appreciated the methodical use of the remedy can be 
learned. 

The sign derived from the peculiar color of' the face de- 
notes that the change of condition of the ganglia has already 
commenced: that depressing agencies have been in operation for 
some time; that solar heat, atmospheric conditions, fear, care, 
anxiety and sleeplessness have wrought their effect. This sign 
furnishes the first indication for treatment. Ohsta principiis 
is the art of medicine in a nutshell. Here are the beginnings. 
Prescribe at once, procure rest for the sleepless patient who has 
been getting up, every morning for a month or more, more weary 
than when retiring. In rest there is recuperation. This is the 
true method of prevention. No need to wait until the ganglia 
are hopelessly depressed, the burning heat of hyperthermy is 
developed, the miseries of intense congestion have supervened, 
or the tortures and hell of full-formed disease are at hand either 
to make a diagnosis or to begin treatment. But give the remedy 
and give it first, last and all the time. Such allies as it needs 
will suggest themselves. 

The part that solar heat plays as a depressing agent or as 
a factor in causing gangasthenia is a problem in itself. In the 
regions where the congestive diseases mostly prevail the nights are 
nearly as warm as the days, and the inhabitants sleep, if they 
sleep at all, with but scanty covering. At best but a few hours of 
slumber are obtained. The nights are oppressively warm, the at- 
mosphere sultry, and the earth and the houses heated by the 
sun's rays render the close air still more stifling. Such nights 
occur at intervals in temperate regions— three and four in suc- 
cession—and are followed by cooler ones. The lassitude caused 
by the sleeplessness due to the former is dispelled by the grate- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 97 



ful and restful coolness of the latter. But increase of temper- 
ature is not the sole effect produced by the excessive heat of the 
sun's rays. The electrical and other conditions of the atmos- 
phere are changed, and these changes have also to be considered 
in their relation to the body as factors in causing depression. 
Without discussing these, however, the relation of solar heat 
alone to the body may be stated thus: The atmosphere heated 
by the sun's rays maintains the body at nearly its normal 
temperature. There is then no necessity for generating caloric 
within the body while nature is supplying sufficient exter- 
nal heat. But the individual, unmindful of the tropical heat 
enveloping him, consumes almost as much carbonaceous food as 
would suffice for the calorification of his body in a temperate 
climate. Under these circumstances a struggle ensues betv/een 
the power of the body to expend the caloric derived from the 
ingested carbon and the power of nature to maintain the tem- 
perature of the body and prevent the expenditure of the body's 
heat engendered within it. The struggle continues for a week 
or a month and at length the flagging power of the body suc- 
cumbs, the ganglia become exhausted and disease supervenes. 
Recovery means restoration of the ganglia, and death results 
from their softening and disintegration. 

I have never seen a case of yellow fever. To me there is 
no such disease. I read the descriptions in the books of a dis- 
ease so named. I see the symptoms as they are depicted by dif- 
ferent writers. I \\dtness the post-mortem examinations and 
note the various pathological changes that have occurred in the 
bodies of those who have died of this disease. ' I place the sev- 
eral specimens under the microscope and carefully study the 
alterations of minute structure. I have searched through many 
books in large libraries in pursuit of information on the subject, 
but ever;vi:hing has a different meaning for me than that which 
is writ down in the books. I read between the lines and the 
printed words tell a different story to me from that which they 



^^ " THE QUEST OF THE GBBV 



tell to others. And that is the story which I have endeavored to 
tell here. The traditions of the profession are demolished by 
this laying bare of the mystery surrounding yellow fever by one 
who has never seen a case of the disease. Perhaps the truth 
expressed in the motto at the head of this article that ' ' not prac- 
tice but theory" will elucidate disease may yet prevail, and its 
application may furnish the solution of the nature of many dis- 
eases now so little understood. 

Will their Eminences lend an attentive ear to the voice of 
one crying, in the wilderness of theories: "Here at last is the 
truth ? ' ' Will they submit to be guided by the light of my penny 
dip out of the bog of error in which they are floundering? We 
shall see. 

A PROFOUND DISCOVERY. 

The preceding article was written in 1880, and the records 
show that no such profound discovery in medicine has been made 
during the years intervening. There have been some brilliant 
discoveries in other sciences and some in medicine and all have 
received due recognition and to some have been awarded the 
Nobel prizes, but there has never been so profound a discovery 
the announcem.ent of which fell so flat and which has been re- 
ceived with such silent contempt as this discovery made by the 
author. The virtues of the bromide of ammonium were known 
to one physician prior to this discovery but he took advantage of 
his knowledge and made it the basis of a nostrum which he 
vends under the name of "Favorite Prescription." This has 
been analyzed and it has been found that each bottle of the 
nostrum contains two drachms of bromide of ammonium and 
each dose would contain between two and three grains of the 
bromide so that in order to get the benefit of one ounce of the 
remedy it would be necessary to purchase four bottles of the 
nostrum, which affords the proprietor of the ' ' Favorite Prescrip- 
tion" a very large profit. Another physician in a Wisconsin 
city has prepared a nostrum which he vends under the name 



99 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

of "Restorative." In the author's judgment each bottle of this 
*' Restorative" contains one ounce* of the bromide and as it is 
put up in 8-oz vials and as the dose is two teaspoonfuls before 
each meal and at bedtime in a little water the person who bought 
a bottle and followed the directions would take at each dose the 
same amount of bromide that he would if it were prescribed to 
him according to the author's usual formula: 1 oz bromide; 
water q. s. ad 4 ozs, dose 1 teaspoonful. The author believes 
that the physician in the Wisconsin city derived his knowledge 
of the bromide and its uses from the articles published twenty- 
four years ago. The physician advertises his nostrum to be 
beneficial for all affections of what he terms ' ' the inside nerves ' ' 
—meaning, of course, the ganglia, and it is because he vends it 
as a panacea for the condition named gangasthenia and for all 
diseases thence arising that the author is certain that the "Re- 
storative" contains— each bottle of it— an ounce of the bromide 
of ammonium. * These two men have made much money out of 
the sale of their nostrums the active agent in each of which is the 
bromide while the author has received neither emolument nor 
honor, though much of both are his due, for making public, for 
the benefit of humanity his discovery of the admirable thera- 
peutic virtues of that remedy. Now it is possible for any per- 
son who may be affected with the symptoms of gangasthenia 
which are given on a preceding page of this book to go to any 
drug store and purchase an ounce of bromide of ammonium, 
put it in a 4-oz vial, fill it with water and take a teaspoonful as 
occasion requires. By so doing such person will obtain for 20 
or 25 cents as much of the bromide as is contained in one bottle 
of the "Restorative"— cost $1.00 or as much as is contained in 
four bottles of "Favorite Prescription"— cost $4.00. This for- 
mula is one that should be kept as a household remedy, ready 
prepared to be administered as occasion shall demand. It is a 
simple harmless remedy and is so certain in its effects that the 

I rye- A 

♦Guesswork: may b3 less. ** vT \j» 



1^^^ THE QUEST OF THE 6EBM» 



Wisconsin man advertises his offer that any person may obtain 
five bottles of the ' ' Restorative ' ' on trial for a month, to be paid 
for when the person is cured. He knows whereof he advertises 
and the author also knows that there is no other medicine whose 
efficacy as a remedy could be mentioned in such confident terms 
except the bromide of ammoniinn, and hence the Wisconsin 
man's confidence in the virtues of his nostrum as a "Restor- 
ative" of the "inside nerA^es" or ganglia. Each bottle of the 
"Restorative" and of "Favorite Prescription" contains other in- 
gredients to give color and pleasant taste to its contents and to 
serve as a vehicle for the active agent. But it is believed that the 
sugar or water or alcohol or glycerine or whatever substance 
may be added to the contents of each bottle has no particular 
medicinal effect, and that the proprietors of those nostrums de- 
pend solely for the therapeutical effects of their preparations 
on the action of the agent which imparts to them its curative 
virtue, to wit: the bromide of ammonium. It will be much 
cheaper, therefore, for the person who is affected with gan- 
gasth.nia(for symptoms of which see page 31) to purchase an 
ounce of the bromide, dissolve it in a 4-oz vial and take of this 
solution a teaspoonful at a dose when needed than to pay $1.00 
for a bottle of either of the aforenamed nostrums. It is ad- 
visable to keep it on hand at all times. If, for instance one finds 
after retiring, that one can not sleep, it will only be necessary 
to get up, and take a dose of the bromide in order to procure 
sleep and needed rest. The bromide acts magically in frontal 
headache and for other pains in other regions of the body. Let 
whoever may read this get a supply at once and keep it on hand 
and save much suffering by taking it at the onset of the affection 
and thus ward it off. 

BOIL THE WATER. 

The newspapers are to blame for the vogue of the germ 
theory. The health officers are always ready to furnish "stuff" 
to the papers in order to exploitate their own activity in waging 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. IQl 



unceasing warfare against the ever present germ. When what 
was termed typhoid fever prevailed on the West Side in Chi- 
cago two years ago the injunction "Boil the water" appeared 
daily for some months. One old couple followed the directions 
as carefully and as strictly as though they were performing a 
religious rite. Even when some wag of a printer for a joke 
took out the word "water" and inserted the word "ice" instead 
this couple complied with the order. The old man read the pa- 
pers regularly and when he noticed the changed reading he said 
to his wife: "Why, luariar, it says to boil the ice." "Well," 
she replied, "that's because there's germs in the ice." And 
they boiled the ice. And the notice to that effect ran along for 
a week before it was observed and they boiled, the ice every day. 
The printer did not lose his place, for the joke was considered 
good enough to prevent his discharge. Even the health officer 
laughed when it was told to him. At length the old couple were 
both taken sick one day and the doctor was summoned to see 
them. The old lady said she did not understand how they could 
be taken sick for they boiled the water every day. The doctor 
examined the vessel in which the water had been boiled and 
found in the bottom a sediment consisting of what may be termed 
the debris of the water that had been boiled. It had accu- 
mulated until it had rendered the water poisonous. The doctor 
explained the necessity of cleansing the vessel daily before fill- 
ing it with fresh water. 

JOHNNIE CIRCUMVENTS GERMS. 

But how did it happen that their boy Johnnie was not 
taken sick at the same time?— for he was obliged to drink the 
boiled water at home and was required by a regulation of the 
health officer to take a bottle of the same to school to drink 
while there. Now everybody knows that boiled water is flat to 
the taste and nobody likes to drink it as a regular beverage. As 
a matter of fact very few drank it that summer in Chicago. The 
vast majority of the inhabitants drank lake water as usual and 



109 

^^^ THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



suffered no harm from it for the very good reason that it was 
harmless. But trust a boy to find some trick by which to es- 
cape the disagreeable. On his way to school Johnnie poured 
the boiled water out of his bottle and filled it again from a 
public fountain. If he became very thirsty he would take a 
drink out of the lagoon as he passed through the park and as 
everybody knows who knows an}i;hing about the germs in the 
lagoon a drink of the water therein is a preventive of other 
germs, because the germs bred in the still water of the lagoon 
are big fierce vigorous fellows and they devour all your puny 
little typhoid and other germs, which exist as alleged in lake 
water, wherever they encounter them— in Johnnie's stomach or 
elsewhere. So his occasional draught of lagoon water was anti- 
dotal to the boiled water and was a highly commendable pre- 
cautionary measure. It is a pleasure to record the fact that the 
old couple recovered and that on the advice of their very sen- 
sible physician they drank unboiled lake water all through their 
illness and ceased thereafter to boil the vrater— and the ice— 
much to the delectation of Johnnie. 

The various bulletins and manifestoes issued by the health 
officer that summer created a veritable reign of terror among 
the residents in the suburbs of Chicago. It got so that when 
a lady called to visit a friend, the visitor was met at the door 
by the hostess who would open the door about an inch and on 
recognizing her caller would exclaim : ' ' Gracious ! You have been 
trapesing all over town and have collected all kinds of germs in 
your skirts. Won't you please step onto the lawn and shake 
the germs out % I am so dreadfully afraid of germs since I read 
that last bulletin in the paper from the health officer. I boil 
all the water, I am so afraid of germs getting into the house 
somehow that I use every precaution against them." So the 
visitor obligingly steps onto the lawn and shakes her skirts 
thoroughly in order that she may not carry any contaminating 
germs into her friend's house. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. -^q^ 



The vogue given the germ theory has started scientific in- 
vestigations in search of some substance which while harmless 
in itself would be death to germs— to every sort and kind and 
variety and species and genus of the germ family. Such a sub- 
stance has, after long research and many experiments, been 
found and has been placed on the market under the title of 
* ' Liquozone. " The proprietors of this substance are flooding 
the country with small bottles of it gTatuitously distributed. 
There is no plan yet devised that will draw public attention to 
a patent medicine so quickly as the giving away of trial bottles 
of it. This plan has been so successfully carried out by the 
proprietors of Liquozone that the proprietor of "Favorite Pre- 
scription ' ' finding his sales suddenly diminished has as suddenly 
discovered that his nostrum is also death to germs, not of all 
kinds but of sundry kinds which he has depicted in a scare- 
head at the top of his advertisement. Well the "Favorite Pre- 
scription" has been advertised, during the years in which it 
has been before the public, as a panacea for almost all the ills 
that flesh is heir to, and if it has recently developed germicidal 
powers it will be a good thing — for the proprietor and those 
newspapers in which he advertises. 

STORY OF DR. LA BREERRE. 

The very interesting story of ' ' Chita ' ' by Laf cadio Hearne, 
previously referred to and quoted from in these pages contains 
other matters of interest which may be incidentallj^ introduced 
at this point. The writer describes a terrible catastrophe which 
overwhelmed Last Island on the coast of Louisiana. A terrific 
hurricane swept up over the gulf; huge waves dashed over the 
island and destroyed every habitation. Every person on the 
island perished except a child three years old and her father. 
The child was found floating on a table and was rescued by a 
flsherman whose wife adopted her and named her after a child 
lost by death. The father went to New Orleans and began to 
practice medicine. "Dr. La Brierre, for eleven years devoted 



-*-^^ THE QUEST OP THE GERM^ 



himself heart and sonl to the practice of that profession he had 
first studied rather as a polite accomplishment than as a future 
calling." "He had grown quite thin— a little gray. The epi- 
demic had burthened him with responsibilities too multifarious 
and ponderous for his slender strength to bear. The continual 
nervous strain of abnormally protracted duty, the perpetual in- 
terruption of sleep had almost prostrated his will." He was 
called at this juncture to visit a patient at Yiosca 's Point, a two 
days' journey by water on the bayous and along the coast. 
His daughter reared by her foster-mother and now a girl of 
fourteen was at the fishing village to which he was going. 
Poetic justice requires that he shall know and become known to 
her but disease intervenes to prevent their recognition of each 
other and inexorable Death provides a cruel and unhuman de- 
nouement. On the first day of the trip the doctor at break- 
fast ate a little macaroni and cheese, and lay down to sleep 
again. When he awoke in the cooling evening he felt almost 
refreshed. He ate less sparingly at the second meal. Next 
morning he had a cup of hot coffee and then he felt really 
hungry: — he ate more macaroni and cheese than he had ever 
eaten before. At supper time it seemed to him that he could 
not get enough to eat. Soon after supper the sloop arrived at 
the Point, but the doctor came too late— the man had died and 
was buried. So there was nothing for him to do except to rest. 
He retired and ''he woke before day with a feeling of intense 
prostration, a violent headache and an aversion for the mere 
idea of food." He falls into wild, semi-delirious reminiscences 
of former occurrences. ' ' Eh ! what a pain ! Evidently he had 
worked too much. A decided case of nervous prostration. He 
must lie down and try to sleep. These pains in the head and 
back were becoming unbearable. Still, it was strange ! he could 
not perspire. How his heart beat! How his temples pulsed! 
Why, this was fever ! Such pains in the back and head. Still 
his skin dry— dry as parchment— burning. A bursting weight 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. ^^^ 



of pain at the base of the skull made him reel like a drunken 
man. His eyes glowed and there was blood in his mouth. His 
pulse was spasmodic and terribly rapid. ' ' He took 30 grains of 
quinine and laid down again. "His head pained more and 
more;— it seemed as if the cervical vertebras were filled with 
molten iron. And still his skin remained dry as if tanned. 
Anguish grew intense — nausea— dizziness and a brutal wrench- 
ing within his stomach. Everything began to look pink. It 
darkened more. Something kept sparkling before his sight like 
fireworks. [Similar subjective symptoms occur in thermic fever. 
Of a patient attacked by sunstroke it has been written: ''His 
eyes blurr and varying colors cross his vision. Vertigo seizes 
him and he falls."] Then a burst of blood filled his mouth. 

The light became scarlet as claret. This— this was not 

malaria." ''It was one of those rapid, violent attacks which 
often despatch their victim in a single day." The doctor's 
nurse — the daughter's foster-mother "ordered the girl under 
no circumstances to approach the cabin where the sick man 
was lying." 

It is evident to a physician that, while the foregoing de- 
scription of the subjective symptoms of yellow fever has been 
elaborated with some degree of correctness and has been some- 
what embellished by poetic fancy, Mr. Hearne never suffered 
from an attack of the disease. He has given an account of the 
circumstances which were the immediate cause of the doctor's 
attack. On the previous evening the doctgr ate ravenously at 
supper. He was said to have felt hungry. Now this feeling 
was not hunger but an abnormal craving excited by the ab- 
normal condition of the stomach which was then in the in- 
cipient stage of congestion. The doctor simply overloaded his 
stomach and ought to have known better than do so. Mr. 
Hearne without indicating this to have been the immediate cause 
of the attack has given the circumstances so fully that it may 
be inferred that he left it to his readers— at least to such of 



206 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



them as had an interest in the pathology of his story— to make 
the deduction that the immediate canse of the doctor's attack 
was his giving indulgence to the abnormal craving on the previ- 
ous evening; he had eaten to complete satiety and in the morn- 
ing naturally enough he had ''an aversion for the mere idea 
of food." Among the factors of causation in the doctor's en- 
vironment this gorging of his stomach with food stands forth as 
the chief one and though this is an imaginary case it is given 
with such reality that this particular feature may be accepted 
as supporting the author's views on that point. 

But what a different ending the story might have had! 
Suppose the doctor had understood the therapeutic use of brom- 
ide of ammonium and had taken 30 grains of that remedy 
(which is not much of a dose) instead of the same weight of 
quinine and had continued to take the remedy in proper doses 
until he was fully recovered. Suppose that yellow fever was 
known to be non-contagious — as it will be so known when the 
people of this country become educated up to the point of no 
longer giving credence to the ignorant idea that it is contagious 
by the publication of this book and by its shedding its enlighten- 
ing influence over their minds— in such case "Chita" would 
have been allowed to attend the patient. He aroused by the 
sight of this girl who bore such a striking resemblance to his 
wife would have made incjuiries about her: the story of her 
rescue from the sea would have come out and the doctor con- 
vinced by the evidence would have claimed her as his own child. 
The foster-parents would have relinquished all claim upon her 
and the doctor would have returned to New Orleans accom- 
panied by his daughter. Xow as science in a short time will 
have made this more joyful yet pathetic denouement probable, 
will not ]\Ir. Hearne, if this happens to meet his eye, please to 
re-write his story and give it a more pleasing finale and one that 
is in accordance with the probabilities of the disclosures of 
science? For in the story the father dies of his disease, entirely 



107 
THE QUEST OF THE GERM. -^^ * 



unaware that his own child is living, and is near him ready to 
minister to his comfort. Oh cruel fiction -more remorseless than 
science ! 

[Alas ! poor Hearne is dead. If this shall meet the eye of 
some kindly story writer will he or she write a new conclusion 
to the story on the lines indicated?] 

It has been explained that the veno-motor ganglia are dis- 
tinct from the arterio-motor ganglia and that when each is 
separately affected— for if both sets of ganglia were affected 
at the same time, instant death would ensue — the phenomena 
thence arising are different and the various combinations of 
phenomena denote clearly which set of ganglia is involved. Thus 
when the arterio-motors are depressed we have the flushed coun- 
tenance and when the veno-motors are depressed we have the 
pallid face— the most obvious sign giving the key to the nature 
of the involvement. There is a disease, however, recognized 
by one name in which either set of ganglia may be involved 
and that is sunstroke and it is a disease of which there may be 
said to be two forms. In one of these forms the veno-motor 
ganglia are depressed and the patient is pale with moist and 
cool surface and the treatment is by warmth and stimulation. 
In the other form the patient is flushed of face, skin dry and 
hot with hyperthermy, and the usual treatment is by cold and 
depressants. In this form the arterio-motors-gangiia are de- 
pressed. It is by the chief features of these two forms of one 
disease— this bi-fronted disease— that we may learn to distin- 
guish the one form of ganglionic involvement from the other. 
On this basis can be listed in two classes. 

THE GANGLIONIC DISEASES. 

Due to arterio-motor gan- Due to veno-motor gan- 

gasthenia. gasthenia. 

YeUow fever. Cholera, Cholera Infantum. 

Typhus fever. Cholera Morbus, Diarhea. 



108 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



Dengue. 

Hematiiric fever. 

Scurvy. 

Hematemesis. 

Hemoptysis. 

Hemorrhages, cerebral, 

tinal. 
uterine and renal. 
Milk sickness (rare.) 
Jaundice, functional. 
Pink-eye, in the human. 
Influenza. 
Sunstroke thermic form. 



' ' Malaria, ' ' so-called. 
Sunstroke, gelid form. 
Exoptliaimic goitre. 
Sea sickness. 

Heartburn (cardialgia) the 
intes- bromide. 

neutralizis the butyric acid in 
stomach. 
Morbus Brightii, incipient 

stage. 
Anaemia. 
Chlorosis. 
Dipsomania. 
Sleeplessness. 
Beri-beri, tentativelv. 



The author has copied an article written by himself some 
years ago on yellow fever which may be regarded as the type 
of the diseases due to arterio-motor gangasthenia, which is the 
acme of arterio-motor ganglionic involvement and in the course 
of the development of which all the signs of arterio-motor gan- 
gasthenia are manifested. So one might by synthesis of those 
symptoms form a disease which would present in unmistake- 
able form the disease recognized as yellow fever. The author 
has treated all the symptoms present in yellow fever as distinct 
diseases in different individuals — the jaundice, the arterious 
congestion exhibiting the characteristic pink or ferrety eye, the 
vomiting, the hyperthermy and the various aches and pains and 
all these symptoms have at various times yielded in his hands 
to the potent virtues of the bromide of ammonium. If those 
single diseases had appeared in conjunction in one individual 
there would have been as typical a case of yellow fever as ever 
occurred in any tropical countrj^ during an epidemic, and though 
the author has stated that he has never seen a case of the dis- 
ease, yet he has seen the disjecta membra of a case and has 



THE QUEST OP THE GBEM. ^09 



treated it by piecemeal. But it is impossible that siich a ease 
could ever appear in this northern climate because the environ- 
ment is not such and probably never will be such as to develop 
a case of the kind. But there will always be cases of disease 
which will present in one combination or other all the prominent 
symptoms of yellow fever which will all disappear before the 
therapeutic action of bromide of ammonium. And as each 
symptom singly yields to it so all in conjunction will yield to it, 
with the one proviso of caeteris paribus. 

INTRODUCTION TO ARTICLE ON CHOLERA. 

Cholera is the type of the veno-motor gangasthenic diseases 
as yellow fever is the type of the arterio-motor gangasthenie dis- 
eases and as the article on yellow fever has been copied the ar- 
ticle on cholera will also be introduced as a sort of companion 
piece to the other. Suppose some one were to announce to the 
author that in India, or in China, or in Egypt, or in Turkey or 
in Russia it had been discovered that bromide of ammonium is 
a specific for cholera, he would reply: "Huh! that's no hqyvs 
to me, I made that discovery more than twenty-five years ago, 
and furthermore I discovered the condition to which it is due 
and named it gangasthenia. ' ' In this connection it is proper to 
explain that the term ganglia is used generally, without attention 
to the arbitrary divisions of the anatomists and physiologists, 
as embracing the whole ganglionic tract, and it is considered in 
its ultimate distribution and the force which it exerts to be co- 
extensive with the capillary area. The blood as a tissue of the 
body is pervaded by the nerve force deriA^ed from it as vrater 
is by electricity when a current of that fluid is turned into it 
from a battery. Hence we have gangasthenia a term which 
means loss of ganglionic nerve force. The loss may be partial 
or complete and may be local or general but however limited 
the condition may be or if it embraces the entire tract there 
is but the one term to indicate it. The article on cholera follows. 



110 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



When originally published it was inscribed to the Academy of 
Sciences, Paris, France. That may stand without change. The 
article was headed by the motto : Palmam non sine pulvere which 
was intended to be prophetic, and to mean, "I have obtained 
the award not without labor." The reference of course is to 
the Breant Cholera Prize which has been in charge of the Paris 
Academy of Sciences since 1849, and it has been held so long 
in the undisturbed possession of the Academy that the members 
of that institution must have come to regard the fund as an 
irreversible and hona fide asset. Yet they have had no equity 
in it since the author filed his claim to it in 1878, since which 
time he has made every effort possible to him to establish his 
claim. It must not be understood that he asserted his claim 
without any foundation for the same because for a number of 
years prior to 1878 he was constantly making tentative use of 
bromide of ammonium in his practice and the results as shown 
by the recorded cases— to be hereafter given— and the ratiocina- 
tion by which he evolved the ganglionic theory of certain diseases 
justified him fully in asserting his claim to that prize. He be- 
lieved then and, his views have not since changed, he believes 
now that the Breant prize belongs to him. It is generalh- con- 
sidered that Galileo is one of the most pathetic figures in human 
history because he was placed on a real rack and forced by tor- 
ture to recant openly what he knew to be true while at the 
same time his mental attitude toward the truth remained un- 
changed. This book will place the author before the people of 
this country as the most pathetic figure in their history because 
for more than twenty-five years he has been on the rack— the 
rack of hope and despair— hope of obtaining the possible— the 
rewards due to the merit and importance of his discoveries and 
despair of finding, anywhere, in response to his numerous soli- 
citations, that assistance without which he can not establish his 
title to the prize which he knows belongs to him. He is still on 
the rack. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. -.i-j^ 



There seems to be an entire indifference on the part of 
physicians and of people generally to the question as to whether 
there is a specific for cholera or not. Nobody seems to care. 
Everybody seems interested about the small ills of life and 
seems content to leave the greater evils undisturbed to work all 
possible harm to society. The author compares this condition 
of affairs to the situation in Chicago at this present -writing. 
Some finnicky fellow introduced a resolution into the city 
council requiring the police to enforce the ordinance against 
spitting on the sidewalks and in public conveyances, elevators 
and other places. It was passed and in consequence an anti- 
spitting crusade has been inaugurated in that city and offenders 
are haled by the dozen and the score, every day, before the 
justices and fined. Now this is a really trivial matter and does 
not concern municipal officials at all ujiless a forced construc- 
tion is given to certain provisions of the document which con- 
fers authority on them. The whole thing is due to the officious- 
ness of the health officer and the outcry made by some over- 
fastidious persons — ladies chiefly — who do not want to drabble 
their long skirts in the saliva ejected on the sidewalks. There 
is another way to avoid contamination from this cause. Let 
the edict go forth that no woman is a lady who wears long 
skirts and no man is a gentleman who spits on the sidewalk and 
forthwith the spitting nuisance is a thing of the past. But it 
is a trivial matter anyway. Chicago is the dirtiest city in the 
world, bar none; its streets are full of mire and festering filth 
and yet the inhabitants are compelled, under penalty, to add 
their saliva to the corrupt mass between the curbs which is 
crying aloud by its offensiveness for removal. The anti-spit- 
ting crusade goes on and meantime the streets are a foul eyesore, 
a reign of crime prevails in the city, and vice as a festering 
ulcer pervades the levees: at the same time the officials devote 
their energies to graft. But what better can be expected of a 
city whose chief officer is an anarchist,* and whose council con- 



*This refers to Carter H. Harrison. 



THE QUEST OF T HK GERM. 

tains such anarchists as Hinky-Dink, Bathhouse John, Johnny- 
Powers, and others of that stripe. Well, therefore, is it named 
"The City of Grouches and Grafters." The foundation, the 
prime cause, the watchword, the one principle of Tammany is 
' ' Graft, ' ' but the grafters of Chicago can give Tammany ' ' cards 
and spades" and then beat them at the game. Also, some of 
the most notorious grouches in this country live there. So, well- 
named is "The City of Grouches and Grafters." 

But this is a digression, a sort of appropriate interpolation 
by way of an example or illustration and the thread of the 
story is resumed. The article referred to follows: 



CHOLERA. 

Cholera is an unsolved problem of medicine. The books 
throw absolutely no light upon its nature and give no clue to 
its proper treatment. No disease has been more written about. 
Its phenomena have been accurately described and its every 
feature graphically portrayed. Every man who has ever seen 
a case has tried his hand at conjecturing its nature, and the 
theories evolved have been as diverse from each other as the 
minds of those who have propounded them have been different 
one from another. It is useless, then, to refer to any of the 
false hypotheses that have been based upon erroneous concep- 
tions of its cause. If the problem is to be solved it must be 
solved de novo. A correct interpretation of its phenomena, as 
they are recorded, will furnish the solution, and here the books 
supply some aid. 

What are the phenomena of cholera? Three principal fea- 
tures are recognized as constituting the disease in its virulent 
form: vomiting, purging and cramps. Conjoined to these are 
a number of minor subjective and objective symptoms. The 
disease does not come on suddenly, but is preceded by evi- 
dences of a prodromic stage, such as anorexia, languor, weari- 
ness, insomnia, perspiration, a sense of chilliness and fugitive 
pains. These phenomena, or rather the condition to which they 
are due becomes intensified under the continued operation of 
the causes which have produced it and the development of 



114 THE QUEST OF THE GEEM. 

the full-formed disease results. Tlie symptoms accordingly 
change; anorexia is followed by nausea, and this changes to 
vomiting: the feeling of weariness in the calves of the legs 
becomes a pain, and the pain becomes spasmodic in its char- 
acter and changes to cramp. The vision is disordered; a hum- 
ming is heard in the ears with every heart-beat; the face be- 
comes pallid, the pulse feeble and small; sweating is copious; 
the evacuations are ejected with violence and the contents of 
the stomach are forcibly thrown out. The heart beats or churns 
as though it would burst— a sound difficult to describe, but 
once heard never to be forgotten; it "thumps" as though it 
were imprisoned and was striving to burst through the walls 
of the chest. This tumultuous action of the heart can be ac- 
counted for, as it will appear by the almost complete paralysis 
of the right side of that organ. In consequence of the con- 
tinued purging and vomiting the character of the blood rapidly 
changes by loss of its serum. The bowels act as a sluice-way 
for the watery portions of the blood to drain out of the body, 
while the corpuscular portion only is retained within the ves- 
sels and becomes thick, of a dark color and of a tarry con- 
sistency. 

Now other phenomena appear; the pulse sinks rapidly; the 
extremities become cold; the patient is restless and complains 
of intense thirst; the surface is bathed with sweat; the urine 
is scanty and the skin begins to assume a bluish or leaden 
hue. The evacuations become more copious; the thirst in- 
satiable; the pulse thready, the breath cold; the tongue cold, 
pale and moist ; the skin cold and shrunken ; the hands and feet 
shriveled as if long soaked in water and of a livid color, es- 
pecially at the nails which seem almost black; the eyes deeply 
sunken; the conjunctivae dry and the sclerotic of a dirty porce- 
lain whiteness; nose and lips blue and cold; the urine and 
tears suppressed; the respiration short, hurried and oppressed. 
The intellect is generally clear and sound, but an extraordinary 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 115 

apathy is commonly evinced. The voice is changed and be- 
comes husky and feeble. An effort seems needed to propel it 
outwardly, and it sounds hollow, muffled and indistinct to the 
patient. Post-mortem examination of the bodies of those who 
have died with cholera shows that the venules are congested, 
the veins distended and the right side of the heart and pul- 
monary arteries are filled with tarry blood that has been de- 
prived of its serum. Ptosis as a sign of gangasthenia finds its 
intensest expression in cholera, for choleraic patients die with 
their eyes closed. 

An inquiry into these phenomena to ascertain in what 
form, manner and degree, in the light of a rational physiology, 
the divergences from the healthy and natural performance of 
function must inevitably disclose the character of the disturb- 
ance that has led to the perturbed conditions exhibited in the 
aggregation of symptoms designated by the name cholera. 

Circulation is the function that first suffers derangement, 
and to appreciate the nature of the disorder of this function 
it will be proper to ascertain how its normal performance is 
effected. 

A few sentences from Flint's Physiology ought to explain 
this matter: 

"The capillaries are generally so small as to admit but 
a single row of corpuscles which move like beings endowed 
with volition. When the circulation is natural the movement 
is always quite slow when compared with the movement in 
the arterioles. Here at last the impulse of the heart is lost. ' ' 

"The circulation in the capillaries of a part is subject to 
such great variations and the differences in different localities 
are so considerable that it is quite impossible to give any definite 
rate which will represent the capillary circulation." 

"There is a force in operation— the action of the heart — 
which is capable of producing the capillary circulation; and 
there is nothing in the phenomena of the circulation in these 
vessels which is inconsistent with the operation." 



116 THE QUEST OF THE GEEM. 

**The action of the arterioles is competent to produce all 
the variations which are observed in the capillary circulation/' 

The calcium light of a great intellect has been thrown on 
the subject and makes it as clear as mud. 

All physiologists agree in the statement that the current 
of venous blood is maintained by the action of the right side 
of the heart, whose operation is compared to that of a pump. 
They admit that muscular contractions, the action of the dia- 
phragm and the vis a tergo of the left side of the heart also 
assist in the propulsion of the blood through the veins. With 
singular unanimity, however, they overlook the chief motive 
power by which the blood is propelled through the vascular 
apparatus, to wit : nerve force. That is, they take no cognizance 
of innervation and ascribe the performance of the circulation 
to some power inherent in the vascular organs themselves. In 
consequence of this it has come about that our latter day 
physiologists regard all function as being mechanically ef- 
fected, and that we have an instrumental or physical and not 
vital one. The mainspring of all action in the human body 
is disregarded and left out of sight or consideration by them. 
In order, therefore, to appreciate the normal performance of 
the function of circulation it will be necessary to restore the 
omitted power. Accordingly I state as a physiological truth 
that the circulation throughout the whole of the vascular or- 
gans, in the heart, in the arteries and veins and in the capil- 
laries is effected by the power exerted by the ganglia: that 
every atom of the ultimate tissue of these organs is affected 
by nerve force, and, that the blood itself, as a tissue of the 
body, is permeated by and influenced in its ever}^ corpuscle by 
the force derived from these nerves. This is a proposition that 
will scarcely be disputed. Hence if circulation is deranged it 
must follow that innervation has been disturbed. The symp- 
toms which have been enumerated as present in cholera denote 



117 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

that the circulation has been deranged and that congestion has 
ensued. Hence we conclude that cholera is the result of dis- 
turbed innervation. This brings us to the application of the 
axiom: Whenever idiopathic passive congestion be present it 
denotes depression of the ganglia, and the intensity of the con- 
gestion will be the measure of the degree of gangasthenia. 

In cholera the face is pale and not flushed, the conjunc- 
tivEB are clear and not injected, the surface is cool and not hot, 
the nails are blue or black and not purple. These differences 
distinguish the form of passive congestion present in the dis- 
ease and just one of the symptoms makes the distinction clear. 
It has been determined that the sudden pallor of fear, or the 
blanched countenance of a fainting person is induced by the 
stoppage of blood in the venous side of the circulatory organs. 
This slight signal is thrown out by nature to catch the eye 
of the observer, and furnishes the key to the location of the 
congestion in all diseases of which permanent pallor is a fea- 
ture, and the fact that the passive congestion of cholera is 
venous is established thereby. 

The veins, for the purpose of explaining the phenomena 
of this disease, must be considered as a whole, from their com- 
mencement in the periphery to their termination at the end of 
the pulmonary arteries, including the right side of the heart. 
And the arteries from the beginning of the pulmonary veins, 
including the left side of the heart, to their termination in the 
peripheral capillaries, must be regarded as an entirety— as the 
whole of the arterial blood carrying apparatus. This view 
bears out the recognized duality of the various parts of the 
body. 

These two divisions of the vascular apparatus are distinct 
in function and separate in action and must necessarily be 
controlled by different sets of nerves which may be termed in 
the aggregate the vaso-motors; but when it becomes requisite 
to distinguish the sets of nerves separately they can be desig- 



118 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

nated as veno-motors and arterio-motors. These sets of nerves 
can each in their own spheres be diversely affected either tem- 
porarily or continuously, or they may suffer singly from de- 
pression which will be severe and prolonged. 

If the whole veno-motor tract of nerves were gradually 
affected by depression until finally there were complete cessa- 
tion of the nerve force derived from them, while the arterio- 
motor tract was not affected in the least degree, the condition 
presenting the phenomena of cholera would be superinduced. 
Then, the blood, as soon as it passed through the capillary area 
would be cut off from the influence of nerve force and would 
congest in the venules and veins, i^s a result of this stasis the 
serum would separate from the corpuscular portion of the 
blood within the vessels, vomiting would take place because of 
the congestion of the stomach. The serum of the blood in the 
portal veins would at first ooze out by exosmose through the 
distended follicles of the mucous surface of the small intestines. 
The accumulation would be discharged through the natural out- 
let. The acts of vomiting and evacuating the bowels would 
exert a pressure on the distended veins that would squeeze out 
more of the watery portion of the blood, to be in its turn 
ejected, and the exertion of this pressure would suffice to force 
the thickened blood along in the veins. These operations would 
be repeated until at length the blood would be wholly deprived 
of its serum, and there would only be enough of its volume 
left to fill the right side of the heart and the veins to dis- 
tension. The arteries and left side of the heart, not receiving 
any blood from the veins and right side of the heart would be 
empty, as also would the capillaries. The accompanying ob- 
jective and subjective phenomena would correspond in manner 
and degree with the derangements of the circulation, and as 
the changes in the blood and condition of the circulatory ap- 
paratus in the supposed case correspond precisely with those 
found in cholera, so the phenomena of this case would be ex- 



119 

THE QUEST OP TBE €QBRH«. 



actly similar to the appearances exhibited by a case of this dis- 
ease. 

This superinduced state resembling cholera is due to a 
supposed veno-motor gangasthenia. In cholera we find an 
idiopathic passive congestion. According to our axiom it must 
be due to gangasthenia. If the congestion be venous it is 
due to venor-motor gangasthenia. But we have shown that 
the passive congestion of cholera is venous, ergo: Cholera is 
due to veno-motor gangasthenia, Q. E. D. Just as in the 
supposed case the congestion being venous it was due to the 
same condition. 

How simple! The nerves move the vessels, the vessels 
move the blood. If the nerves cease to move the vessels, 
(gangasthenia) the vessels cease to move the blood, (passive 
congestion.) 

Nature is simple in all her operations. It is only in pro- 
portion to our ignorance that she appears to be mysterious. 
The mystery that has hung over the origin of this disease, and 
the failure of every effort that has hitherto been made to ex- 
plain it is owing to the fact that our inquiries have been pushed 
in the wrong direction. The assumption of a specific poison at 
the outset has been adopted by nearly all writers on the subject; 
consequently their efforts have been expended in trying to dis- 
cover the nature and properties of an impalpable something 
whose existence is purely hypothetical. 

The views here expressed account for all the phenomena of 
the disease. The vomiting is due to congestion of the stomach; 
the serous evacuations proceed from the congested bowels: the 
cramps are reflected from the same source to the calves of the 
legs and are the sure sign that congestion of the small bowel 
exists. It may also be explained that the great nerve trunks 
which supply the extremities are of a mixed nature, and the 
cramps occurring here or elsewhere may be to a lack of co- 
sthenicity between the two sets of nerves. 



120 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



Animal heat is produced by the action of nerve force. 
Normal heat is the result of normal nerve force acting on 
normal blood normally distributed in a normal capillary area. 
In cholera none of the conditions essential to the generation 
of normal heat are present; hence hypothermy. 

This explanation will answer for the diseases which are 
due to the same form of gangasthenia as cholera^ but in a less 
degree of severity, to wit: diarrhea, cholera morbus and cholera 
infantum. To give a proximate idea of the degrees of severity 
of these diseases they might be compared thus: Positive, 
diarrhea; comparative, cholera morbus and cholera infantum: 
superlative, cholera. 

The cause of cholera is the environment of the individual. 
Its epidemicity is accounted for by the fact that whole com- 
munities are subject to the same environment. The mildly 
gangasthenic persons have their condition intensified by the 
continued operation of depressing influences until the disease 
assumes the shape of cholera. 

The treatment of cholera has been as varied as the theories 
of the disease have been numerous. The gamut of the materia 
medica has been run from A to Zed— from acid to zinc— to 
find a specific, and the formulas that have been devised as 
remedies are almost as numerous as the combinations of which 
medicines are susceptible. But all remedies have been proved 
to be useless, and the choleraic patients still slip through the 
doctors' fingers, and drop through the center out of the circle 
of their environment. The reason is plain, they have not un- 
derstood the pathology of the disease. Strange to say, by 
some fatuity, the specific has escaped their notice. Not even 
accident has revealed it. Reasoning, observation, and research 
expended upon the disease, its manifestations and various re- 
sults would never disclose the remedy because they have not 
unfolded its pathologj^ The action of the specific divulges the 
secret of the disease. The physiological effect of a medicine 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. ^^^ 



solves the mystery enshrouding its pathology. This therapeutic 
agent, so potent in virtues, so admirable in its properties, so 
prompt in its remedial action— never before suggested or hinted 
at — that is indicated by every symptom of the disease, that 
fulfills the design of a curative agent: in fine, that fills the bill 
in every particular is the bromide of ammonium. 

The therapeutic action of this medicine was discovered by 
its tentative use in disease, and the pathological condition which 
it met was deduced from observing its effects in correcting the 
condition. This is reversing the usual order of procedure, but 
''logic is logic." 

Some bland idiot rises to explain that it acts by liquefying 
the blood, because ammonia is the only substance Avhich will 
prevent coagulation of the blood. The idiots of the profession 
are incorrigible and will continue to liquefy the blood. They 
do not understand and the idea will have to be inserted into 
their heads by means of a trephine. 

The remedy acts as a sthenic; it energizes the ganglia and 
restores innervation, and all the evidences of deranged func- 
tion disappear under its influence. It is as specific in the mild 
as it is in the severe degree of gangasthenia, and thus not 
only exhibits its potency but proves that the shape of disease 
assumed is due to differing degrees of severity of the same con- 
dition. The following cases show this: 

Case 1. Diarrhea. Emma S., at 13, hands cool, face 
pallid, complains of weariness, nausea, slight frontal headache 
and pain in bowels; has frequent watery evacuations. Pre- 
scribed bromide of ammonium in ten grain doses every hour 
or two until relieved, — to be continued thereafter every six 
hours until restored. Recovery. 

Case 2. Cholera morbus. Mrs. J. F., at 30, hands and feet 
cold, face very pale, complains of pain in calves of legs and 
aching in bones; had vomited often and violently, evacuations 
serous and forcibly ejected; pulse much reduced; features 



122 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

shrunken; had suffered from general feelings of illness and de- 
pression for some days previous to the attack. Prescribed bro- 
mide of ammonium in fifteen grain doses every hour until re- 
lieved and to continue same four times daily, until restored. 
Kecovery. 

Case 3. Cholera infantum. M. W., male, at six months, 
hands and feet cool, face markedly pallid ; evacuations frequent, 
flooding the diaper; vomited with violence, ejecting fluid eon- 
tents of stomach in a forcible stream to some distance; much 
depression and great restlessness and seeming distress. Pre- 
scribed bromide of ammonium in three grain doses every hour 
until relieved, to be continued four times a day afterward. 
The little fellow, after a few doses, soon sank into restful slum- 
ber, and under the continued use of the medicine marched 
right along back into rosy health. 

Case 4. Cholera, sporadic. C. B., a farmer, at 36. Found 
this patient almost in collapse; face and hands of a cyanotic 
hue, voiceless, nearly pulseless — pulse a thread; body cold, 
cramps in limbs, fingers partially flexed and stiff, countenance 
choleraic; had been retching and purging violently for several 
hours; attack began on the previous day, but he had been feel- 
ing badly for a week or more. Gave him immediately twenty 
grains of bromide of ammonium and repeated the dose every 
five minutes until he had taken one hundred grains. The 
remedy acted magically; the voice returned; the pulse became 
tangible, the surface warm and the condition of the patient 
in every way ameliorated. The dose was continued every hour 
for six hours, and afterward four times a day. Under its in- 
fluence he made a complete recovery. 

The gentlemen who have contributed to the formation of 
professional opinion on points connected with the science of 
medicine consider that it is illogical to argue from the single 
to the universal— to say, that because a remedy has proved ef- 
ficacious in one case of a disease, it will be so in all cases of 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 123 



the same or like disorders. The remark is correct but the bro- 
mide of ammonium is an exception to the rule. This remedy 
is absolutely certain in its action. The administration of a 
dose of this medicine imparts to the prescriber the sweet con- 
.sciousness that, in all cases, it can be relied on to perform the 
duty assigned to it without failure. There is no uncertainty 
of effect with it. There is no waiting to see how it will act. 
You administer a dose and announce with prophetic calmness: 
It will have such and such an effect— and the prediction is al- 
ways fulfilled. 

Here, after many years, is the solution of the problem 
presented by cholera. Here are the explanation and the rem- 
edy, to the discoverer of which, the Breant Cholera Prize be- 
longs. The dire malady has at length found its match. This 
is the valiant David of medicine which is to overcome this 
Goliath of disease; this the ounce of prevention which is worth 
tons of all other kinds of cure. Palmam qui meruit ferat. 

NOTES ON CHOLERA. 

The following article by the author appeared in "The 
Medical Age" of Aug. 25, 1884,— the Age is the successor of 
''The Michigan Medical News":— 

The rise, progress and history of cholera epidemics seem 
to be of slight interest to any but those among whom the dis- 
ease rages or has raged, that is if one may judge from the 
little attention bestowed upon the subject. Yet there is a rem- 
nant to whom everything connected with the disease is of pecu- 
liar interest. I refer to the claimants for the Breant Cholera 
Prize, in the custody of the Paris Academy of Science. Of 
these I know of but three : J. Collis Browne, of London, claimed 
it for chlorodyne; Dr. John Chapman, editor of the West- 
minster Eeview, hopes to win on the strength of having first 
pointed out ice as a curative agent; and myself, who claims 



124 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

the Prize on the basis of gangasthenia and the virtues of bro- 
mide of ammonimn. 

Last summer I began an article for this journal on, "The 
Cholera: Damietta and its Lessons," and having ^vritten the 
title, ended with that,— concluding to await the report of the 
investigations made by French and German Cholera Com- 
missions. Pasteur, the head of the French commission, after 
a thorough and laboriou-S search for the cause of cholera, gives 
as his conclusion that no single cause is adequate to produce 
the disease: that there is no microbe or germ that acts as such 
cause, and that the raison d'etre of cholera is past finding out. 

Not so Herr Geheim-Eath Koch. He went to India, after 
discovering a bacillus in Egypt, and found the same microbe 
there, and this he asseverates is the essential cause of the dis- 
ease. In consequence of this alleged discovery he became the 
"hero of the hour" in Berlin, and was recognized by those 
who believed in him and his doctrines, as an expert in all that 
relates to cholera— except the treatment. 

Then came the outbreak at Toulon, and enters upon the 
scene the Koch aforesaid. "Bring me a dead marine," he 
cries, "and I will soon settle this question." Xo one in all 
France— not even that past-master in the science of bacteriology 
—Pasteur himself— is competent for the task, and the imported 
German mountebank — miscalled an expert — declares the French 
bacillus not to be French at all, but Asiatic. And then follow 
these utterances: 

"Koch says that phenic acid is the best disinfectant." 

The man is an ass. 

"Koch says that there is no specific for cholera." 

There he lies like a knave. 

"Koch says that the home of cholera is India." 

Ah ! ha ! he is a lunkhead. It is as though one were to say 
that St. Louis is the home of insolation. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. ^ 



Meanwhile, in Marseilles and Toulon 

''They are killing men and women" 
For lack of human skill. 

That is, they are letting them die; which amounts to the 
same thing. And this too in spite of the efforts which I 
have made to promulgate my views and thereby disseminate cor- 
rect ideas of the nature of the disease and its remedy. These 
ideas have been given chiefly through the pages of the medical 
journal which was the predecessor of this, and they obtained 
v/ide circulation. Of course they have not been accepted be- 
cause, as an eminent physician once remarked to me, "You 
are twenty-five years ahead of your time." Even now grave 
men are seriously disputing the evidence of their senses, and 
arguing that gangasthenia does not exist as a primary con- 
dition. The venerable idiots have their rights, and one of them 
is to dispute innovations and to send on its rounds during every 
epidemic of cholera a "sure cure" for the disease. But they 
have been very chary of their remarks during the two seasons, 
passed and passing. It is beginning to dawn upon their minds 
that the old doctrines are passing away with themselves, and 
that their opinions are getting old timed and must be consigned 
to limbo along with the bacilli. 

Microbes in the water! Oh! yes. Billions of them and al- 
ways have been. The historic Brahmin refused to drink it be- 
cause by so doing he destroyed life, and himself perished. 
Microbes in the bowels, too, in myriads, but no cholera. The 
microbes prove nothing unless they have the Asiatic features. 
Perhaps Koch can perceive the impress made by the Almighty 
upon human spermatozoa, and can distinguish that of the Afri- 
can from that of any other race. Perhaps ! 

The swallows have disappeared. If the birds of the air 
find the atmosphere unwholesome and migrate to a cooler re- 
gion, we have yet to learn that they have flown away panic 
stricken by fear of the microbes. The heat is intense, the air 



126 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

damp and stifling. The birds have gone because they could 
not endure the suffocating furnace-like atmosphere. This and 
nothing more. 

Note also the weather. Since June 30th it has been in- 
tensely hot. The dispatches in this regard are but repetitions 
from day to day. How they coincide with those from Memphis 
in the days of yellow fever, or from the cities during the prev- 
alence of thermic fever. The nature and degree of this heat 
are the determining factors of the environment. And yet if 
these lunkheads of science are not headed off, they will en- 
deavor to convince the world that there is a dacillus insolationis, 
which, if it were believed in, the first case of sunstroke in any 
place would create as great a panic as the first case of cholera 
or yellow fever does. 

These are however but the puerile observations of scientific 
lunkheads— the microbes, the birds and the weather. While, 
as usual, the cause lies there right under their noses, but no 
one can see it. 

On July 14th I wrote the Secretary of State: "Sir:— The 
Academy of Sciences, in Paris have known of a specific for 
cholera since 1878 . . . The basis of my claim is this : Cholera 
is acute, general, veno-motor gangasthenia. The specific for 
gangasthenia is bromide of ammonium, Corollary: The bro- 
mide of ammonium is a specific for cholera. Please to cable 
this fact to the American consuls at Marseilles and Toulon and 
urge them to advise the use of the remedy, etc." 

Note the use of the term corollary; it gives the force of 
exactness to the phraseology of an otherwise inexact science. 

I surmise that the underling who got hold of that letter 
remarked: "Here is another crank who writes to the State De- 
partment," and having read it to a circle of admiring auditors 
who all laughed, he filed it in the proper pigeon-hole or con- 
signed it, more likely, to the waste basket. 

Now there need to be no fear of cholera, for, when the vir- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

127 



tues of the bromide of ammonium become known, there will be 
no more cholera. For information about these virtues I must 
refer my readers to my previous articles. Of course the proper 
work to refer them to is the U. S. Dispensatory, but the editors 
of the latest edition have, with appalling, ineffable, unsurpas- 
sible stupidity omitted to mention any of the medical properties 
of this remedy. 

There is but one condition underlying the disease and but 
one remedy— a specific— for it, and I do not intend to go to 
Eg3/pt, or France, or India to prove these allegations. I have 
done my duty in pointing out the condition and by inventing 
a term by which to convey an intelligible idea of the disease, 
as well as by indicating the only remedy. It is the privilege 
of members of the profession to employ it or to depend each 
upon his own method. One might appeal to somebodys phil- 
anthropy, if there were such a sentiment in any medical man 
in this world — but there is none that ever I have encountered 
—except in name. 

If ever that blatant, bloviant, trinnpet-mouthed dame, 
yclept Fame, ever does come in this direction, she need not 
call on me unless she first deposes Koch from the high niche 
to which she has elevated him, and brings along and lays at 
my feet the Breant prize— which belongs to me and to me 
alone. 

The journal in which the preceding article appeared was 
conducted by an editor and four associates and it would appear 
from the No. containing this article that there was great toler- 
ance of dissenting opinions. For this No. contains besides the 
above outspoken article presenting the author's rational opin- 
ions, fi.rst, an article translated from the French on "Static 
Electricity as a Preventive of Cholera ' ' ; second, an article on 
''The Prophylaxis of Cholera," in which this extraordinary 
language is used: "In the case of cholera, as in that of all 



^^^ THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



other zymotic diseases, thet^e is a germ which will not grow 
"imless deposited in fruitful soil (!)"; third, a paragraphic 
item containing this: "Even Koch is not infallible, and the 
profession will not be surprised to hear that his microbe (comma 
bacillus) is an effect and not a cause." Thus within the pages 
of the same journal. The author advocates rational views of 
the nature and treatment of cholera while one editor presents 
some foreign ideas about the use of static electricity and an- 
other editor supports the superstition of the germ theory of 
the origin of choleia and a third casts doubt in Koch's alleged 
discovery. Here are three erroneous opinions and one correct 
statement— that of the author. The editors, whose minds are 
besotted by superstition, cling to the germ theory. It is em- 
bedded in their minds by concrete fastening of prejudice and 
ignorance and it would give them too severe a wound to relin- 
quish it. But doesn't such irrationality jar you? 

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES. 

For the benefit of his readers the author deems proper to 
introduce at this point some of his recorded cases which illus- 
trate the practical use and therapeutic action of bromide of am- 
monium : 

Congestive Uterine Hemorrhage.— Mrs. W., at 29, married, 
no children, for three months has had slight, constant and con- 
tinuous uterine hemorrhage, and had been treated by three 
physicians. They had doubtless put her through the usual 
routine of styptics and astringents. I was called to her case 
and found her still flowing, gangasthenic signs well marlfed, 
pulse thready. Prescribed bromide of ammonium according 
to the usual formula and dose. The very first dose checked 
the hemorrhage and there was no more. Under its continued 
influence the patient who had become much reduced, was able 
in ten days to walk to the front gate, and in two weeks from 
my first visit she went on a journey. Moral obvious. 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 1^^ 



Congestive Intestinal Hemorrhage. — Mr. B., at 54, pre- 
sented signs of general gangasthenia. Cold hands and feet, 
pain at sacro-spinal junction and at nape of neck; frontal 
headache, no appetite, pulse slow, some pain across bowels. 
Had been ailing several days, feeling "out of sorts." Bowels 
moved frequently, eight or ten times a day, and each passage 
was accompanied with hemorrhage— blood fluid. Prescribed 
bromide of ammonium. Recovered and was up the next day. 

Congestive Pulmonic Hemorrhage. — Mr. M. C. B., lawyer, 
at 26, was in failing health and excessively worried about his 
condition. Visited distant cities and consulted some very emi- 
nent medical men who prescribed for him but without the slight- 
est benefit and he returned unimproved in health. In conversa- 
tion with him one day I told him I could help him. "Well, he 

would keep on with Dr. 's treatment for a while yet. One 

day in spite of that treatment he had a discharge of blood from 
his lungs that gave him serious alarm and he came to me. He 
had sleepless nights, poor appetite and was reduced in flesh: 
movements languid as if tired, hands cool and swelled when 
hanging down, and their surface had a peculiar mottled ap- 
pearance; palms exuded a greasy sweat. The hemoptysis 
occurred without premonition at irregular intervals and the 
discharge was from a teacupful to a pint in amount. These 
attacks left the patient prostrated and despondent. The only 
lung symptom was slight hepatic dulness over lower lobe of 
right lung. He had slight oxaluria to correct which he took 
some nitromuriatic acid. [If oxalates are present they must 
first be neutralized because they are incompatible with the 
bromide.] Followed this with the bromide of ammonium in 
full doses four times daily, and gave separately some fluid ex- 
tract of cinchona, I did not prescribe this: patient was taking 
it on the prescription of one of the eminent city practitioners 
whom he had consulted and as he desired to continue its use 
I did not interdict it but allowed him to take it as a placebo. 



-|o,j THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



No hemorrhage occurred after the first dose of bromide. 
Patient began immediately to recuperate, and in two months, 
under the continued use of the remedy, had gained sixty 
pounds in weight— or at the rate of one pound per day. Dur- 
ing this time he underwent the fatigues of an arduous political 
campaign, and at its close his vigor was renewed and he en- 
joyed better health than ever before. 

Congestive Intermittent.— Mr. A. D. W., at 39. The pecu- 
liar feature of this case was the continued and violent paroxys- 
mal retching. Patient's bones ached, and he said that in the 
South, where he had served during the civil war, they would 
call his disease dengue. Quinine had no effect in controlling 
the periodicity of the attacks. In the midst of the third 
paroxysm of his disease, which had bothered me considerably, 
I observed that his hands were cool, and with this as an indica- 
tion I gave the bromide. I prepared a dose and telling him to 
take it I left the room. In a short half hour I returned and 
found the dose of medicine untasted on the table. I insisted 
that he must swallow it at once, and he objected that he could 
not and even if he did it would be immediately ejected. I 
placed it to his lips and commanded him to drink it. He did so, 
and no sooner had it reached his stomach than the vomiting 
ceased instantly. This was a revelation to me for I had not 
yet learned that the bromide could be classed as an anti-emetic. 
Its use for a short time prepared the way for the quinine and 
the two were used in conjunction in the further treatment of the 
case. 

Acute Passive Congestion of Stomach.— Nellie, G., an 
actress, was taken sick on the stage. When I arrived found 
her suffering intense distress in the stomach, with incipient 
nausea and severe pain reflected on the splanchnic nerves to 
a point between the scapulae— pulse slow. Gave her fifteen 
grains of bromide of ammonium every five minutes. At the 
end of twenty minutes she was ready to resume her part. She 



^o] 

THE QUBBT OF THE GERM. 



told me that the attacks were of frequent occurrence: that 
usually she had been treated by hypodermic injections of mor- 
phia, mustard plaster, etc., (the routine business) and was al- 
ways sick for two or three days with vomiting and headache. 
Moral obvious. 

Marasmus of Bowels.— Mrs. E. W. G., at 30, was taken 
sick in the spring with "chills." Her doctor who was not a 
graduated physician treated her with large doses of calomel 
and quinia, but the "chills" T\^ere not amenable to such treat- 
ment. She slowly and gradually grew worse, and her disease 
was eventually diagnosticated as marasmus, supposed— conjec- 
tured— to be due to tubercle of the mesenteric glands. Here 
was a person dying before my eyes and I was powerless to help, 
because her family had no confidence in me, and yet I knew 
that her death could be prevented by the potent virtues of 
bromide of ammonium. I sent her surreptitiously — as the code 
regards such acts— three doses of the remedy. The effect is 
described in her own language reported to me by the person 
to whom it was addressed: "It made me so hungry that I 
had to get up in the night and eat. ' ' She died, however, in the 
fall, a victim to the stupidity and prejudices of her friends and 
the ignorance of her physicians. One of these was called from 
a distant city and actually all he knew was to prescribe fluid 
extract of Eupatorium perfoliatum — a remedy that was entire- 
ly inappropriate to the case and worse than though it were 
inert. Several morals obvious here. 

Cholera Morbus.— Was awakened about midnight some 
time in the month of August 1881 by Mr. P., a farmer, who 
lived three miles out in the country, and who told me that his 
wife was very sick and was vomiting and purging at the same 
time. He wanted some medicine for her relief, or if I thought 



132 THE QUEST OF 'V ViV. GERM. 

best, he wished me to visit her, I had no relish for the night 
ride and so wrote this prescription: 

R Ammonii bromidi oz i 

Aquae q. s. ad oz iv 

M. Sig.— Dose 1 teaspoonful in a little water every 10 or 
15 minutes, urtil relieved of the urgent symptoms, and after- 
ward 4 times daily until recovery. 

I returned to my slumbers with the satisfaction of know- 
ing that I had sent an agent that would accomplish its errand 
of healing and mercy with more certainty than any other at 
my command. The result justified my confidence. I met the 
patient some time afterward, and she expressed her gratifica- 
tion at being so promptly relieved by the remedy I had pre- 
scribed for her. She said she felt that she would have died 
without help, but the first dose checked the vomiting, and after 
four or five doses she went to bed and slept till morning. She 
certainly suffered from a severe attack of cholera morbus, for 
which the bromide of ammonium is your promptest and surest 
of all remedies. 

Cholera Morbus.— Case 2 was the daughter of Mrs. P., the 
preceding case. Her husband came to me and described his 
wife's case as one of sholera morbus, for which I prescribed 
the foregoing formula, and as, I afterward learned it had the 
same desirable effect as in the case of the patient's mother. 

Cholera Morbus.— Case 3 did not occur in my practice or 
the result might have been different perhaps. A farmer, who, 
from working in the harvest-field, was overcome with thirst and 
drank large draughts of cold water, became extremely 
prostrated. His disease assumed the form of cholera morbus. 
My young medical friend was sent for, and he took out his 
pesky little squirt-gun, loaded it up several times with a solu- 
tion of xx^orphia and atropia, and fired it off at a certain entity 
called a disease by inserting the point of the gun underneath 
the patient's skin. Result: the patient died. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 133 



"Why did you not give him some of the bromide of am- 
monium?" I asked my young friend. 

''Because I did not think of it." he replied. 

This case illustrates the action of bromide of ammonium 
in the same way as the boy said salt spoiled potatoes when you 
did not put it on. 



DISCOUESE OF AMMONIUM. 

The Author. — "Ladies and Gentlemen: — Allow me to 
re-introduce to you i\Ir. Bromide of Ammonium, my former 
protege. I desire to make you acquainted with his character- 
istics and will therefore allow him to speak for himself." 
(Sotto voce to Brom-am) "Don't mince your words. They are 
a lot of pedantic, didactic dammed fools. Give it to 'em straight. 
Give 'em Hail Columbia. Sock it to 'em good and strong." 

Mr. Brom-am (stepping forward).— "Messieurs Your Em- 
inences, Messires Hyas Tyhees and others of that ilk: Attend. 
You think you know all that is to be known about i\IE but you 
don't know even a little bit. What you do think you know 
isn't so, like many other things you think you know. In fact 
you know more things that "ain't so" than any other class of 
human beings. The reason is that medical science is not an 
exact science. But it need not all be conjectures and errors 
and absurdities and lies. And these are chiefly the kind of 
statements that you make about ME as I shall prove to the 
entire satisfaction of every rational person to whom these 
presents shall come." 

' ' There was published in New York in 1885 a work entitled 

"Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences," in 8 large 

volumes. Think of a 'Handbook' in 8 vols! The volumes 

were written composed and compiled by ninety Eminences in 

medicine, who give after their articles the bibliography/ whence 



136 THE QUEST OF THE GERM, 



they derived the information embodied in their contributions 
to the 'Handbook.' Hence we have a compilation that con- 
tains a repetition of all the superstitions that are still fostered 
by medical men ; all the monstrous absurdities and contemptible 
hypotheses invented by physicians of all nationalities; all the 
errors ever bred by illogical deduction from false observation, 
but not a single profound thought— not a single original idea. 
But I am more concerned about what is stated regarding 
MYSELF than about all the other matter contained in the 
'Handbook.' Let it be remembered that the learned Dr. Wood 
discovered my most admirable and potent virtues in 1876 and 
after five years' tentative and practical u>«e of ME, having 
acquired thereby a complete knowledge of IvIT properties he 
gave that information to the world. And now comes one 
Edward Curtis, a professor of something or other in one of 
the numerous medical colleges of New York and writes an 
article on "The Bromides" collectively and he says a number 
of things about ME that are not so and he does not state any- 
thing in reference to me that is correct, though he might have 
obtained all the information in regard to ME (personally as 
I may say) from the articles of the learned Dr. Wood 
published in 1881. Why a mere professor in a medical college 
overlooked and neglected the discovery of the learned Dr. 
Wood and belched forth a lot of undigested stuff which literal- 
ly has no basis in fact is more than one can account for, except 
it be on the ground that the poor fellow did not know enough. 
Hear him! He states that the most active member of the 
firm or combination entered into by ME is not ME, but th# 
other partner— bromine. Did anybody ever hear anything so 
absurd? Oh! yes. There are lots of statements in the books 
which on the face of them are just as absurd as this. The 
speaker who addresses you is ME— Ammonium— the hypothet- 
ical radicle which is the base in the combination which goes 
under our joint name. The very nomenclature indicates that 



THE QUEST OF THE GJSRM, I37 



our personal relation is tlie something Ammonium and this 
fellow Curtis publishes his ignorance when he states that the 
something in conjunction with ME, is the most active member 
of our combinati-on. Does he not know that in the form of 
vapor I pervade the atmosphere and am a component part of 
every living thing: that no flower would give forth an odor 
if I were not present: that if I were withdrawn completely 
from the air all plants and all animals would perish from the 
earth— while bromine is a by-product. Yet this mere professor 
says— and thereby does despite to the profundity and original- 
ity of the learned Dr. Wood— that this almost inert by-product 
is the active member of our combination. For this I, Am- 
monium—the really active partner in the firm stand here and 
point the finger of scorn at that fellow Curtis who is a mere 
professor in a medical college— and for aught I know it may 
be a one-horse college at that— and, with my most contempt- 
nous air, exclaim: Eot." 

''Hear him further! 'But on the other hand, the de- 
rangements of nerve function caused by exhaustion, general 
or local, are distinctly not to be treated by bromine medica- 
tion. For in such latter case, because of the generally de- 
pressing character of the bromine influence, the exhaustion 
will be deepened and the nervous sjonptoms therefore intensi- 
fied.' Oh! what infernal rot! Now let ME introduce to you 
again a certain condition designated GANG-AS-THE-NI-A 
by the learned Dr. Wood, who discovered it and first introduced 
this profound term to science in 1881. What a fine high- 
sounding mouthful of a word it is; but the strangest thing is 
that the lexicographers— with one exception— have not 
recognized this beautiful polysyllabic word though their souls de- 
light in just such terms. I have no quarrel with them. 
They have many words to pick and choose from, but they 
have overlooked the most important word coined in the last 
twenty-five years and I give them fair warning here and now 



138 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

that this child of the learned Dr. Wood's brain, which embodies 
the most profound and original idea contributed to medical 
knowledge during the past twenty-five years must be recognized 
by lexicology and must be admitted by them to the pages of 
the lexicons which they edit. And further MY advice to them 
is to define it correctly as depression or exhaustion of the 
ganglia and not as neurasthenia simply. And now having re- 
introduced to you the condition designated gangasthenia by 
the learned Dr. Wood, I have the great felicity to inform you 
that the learned Dr. Wood discovered in ME those medicinal 
virtues, those therapeutic properties which constitute ME a 
specific for the special condition discovered and named by him 
— the one discovery being the complement of the other. Now 
what shall be said of a mere professor in a one-horse medical 
college, who pops up in the pages of that ponderous 'Hand- 
book' of 8 vols and says in opposition to the enunciations of 
the learned Dr. Wood that 'derangements of nerve function 
caused by exhaustion are distinctly not to be treated by brom- 
ine medication?' What can be said but that the statements 
of the learned Dr. Wood are profound truths and the statement 
of the other amount to no more than the braying of an ass." 

''But hear him still further— this mere professor in a med- 
ical college, speaking of ME (personally as it were) he says: 
'From the point of view of the clinician, ammonic bromide 
may be regarded as substantially a duplicate of potassic 
bromide in medicinal virtue, while, at the same time, more 
acrid in taste and in local action.' 'Acrid in local action', 
says he. Does any one apply ME locally? Why does he 
single ME out from the materia medica and object to MY 
taste when there are so many other medicines whose taste is 
bitter or nauseous, or lasting and therefore much m^ore ob- 
jectionable than ME on these accounts. It wounds ME very 
deeply to have my taste objected to and I appeal to the many 
thousands who have tasted ]\TE to say if MY taste is not only 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

139 



jiist slightly pungent and very evanescent. Bnt let that pass." 
"This mere professor in a medical college has not only 
insnlted ME by his remarks about ^lY taste but to that he 
now adds an injury to MY reputation by saying that I am 
'substantially a duplicate of the potassic bromide in medicinal 
virtue.' He does not seem to be aware of the fact that the 
learned Dr. Wood nailed that lie twenty-odd years ago and I 
am inexpressibly shocked to find it still going the rounds. 
"Well, it must be killed beyond resuscitation this time. I have 
shown you that our activity depends upon ME the base. The 
same is true of all ]MY sisters of the bromine line. Would 
any one dare to make so fantastically foolish an assertion that 
potassium and ammonium are substantial duplicates of each 
other? I guess not. No one is such a damned-fool. If any 
one said that I'd paste him in the eye. No! Messieurs and 
Messires and others of that ilk let ME assure you that I stand 
a head and shoulders above ]\IY sister the potassic bromide 
and I am not talking through J\IY cork either. I have a wider 
range of application and meet more indications than any 
other bromide. If properly used I can be of more benefit to 
humanity than any other or all other bromides put together. 
A ' duplicate of potassic bromide ' ! Not much ! Why I am 
a giant in my potentialities and the other bromides are pigmies. 
So we may consider the remarks of that fellow Curtis about 
ME laid on the shelf." 

"But there are others who have undertaken to furnish 
information about ME and who have made as hopeless and 
woeful a failure of the matter as Curtis has done. Here is the 
United States Dispensatory edited and published in Philadel- 
phia, edition of 1900. The editors are purveyors of valuable 
and reliable information to the busy practitioner, who con- 
sults this work oftener than any other. It is his vade mecum, 
his handbook, his encyclopEedia in one. He looks to it to be 
informed upon the medical uses and dosage of remedies the 



140 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

whole of which no man is competent to carry in memory. 
Well, let lis see wh?t this book has to say about MEJ Here 
it is: 'Tb^s bromide resembles potassium bromide in its phy- 
siological powers, (action?) but has a less depressing effect upon 
the arterial and muscular systems. It is certainly superior to 
potassium bromide in most cases of epilepsy and even of minor 
neuroses. The dose is from one to two drachms in dilute 
solution.' Well, wouldn't that paralyze you? Such a damned 
conservative estimate of ME seems to have been written by some 
eminent ass about ninety years old. Say Lippincott & Co. 
unless you get some more wide-awake editors your dispensatory 
will soon become obsolete. Just those few words and nothing 
more about ME— about MY medicinal virtues— and it is 
evidently all original too. Poor fellow! He knew very little 
about ME, and so he delved into his inner consciousness and 
brought forth very indefinite and misleading stuff,— even the 
dosage not definite! 'Muscular and arterial systems', says he. 
Show ME the fool that ever hinted that IMY physiological 
action is on the muscular and arterial systems. You fool! 
Don't you know that since the learned Dr. Wood discovered 
the nature of MY physiological action that every one who 
knows anything about ME knows that I act on the ganglionic 
nervous tract and act as a sthenic; that is I stimulate and im- 
part strength to all parts of that portion of the nervous 
system when suffering from exhaustion. Such damned stu- 
pidity is enough to make decorous and well-behaved bromide 
break out into profanity. A whole page of the book is devoted 
to some account of MY chemical nature and preparation. 
But physicians care nothing about MY chemistry. They 
want to know about my 'Medical Properties and Uses' and 
they want to Know all that is to be known. Former editions 
of the dispensatory used to contain a reference to an article 
by Dr. Gibb of England, published in 'The Lancet' about ME. 
There was also at one time a statement that I was incompatible 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. ^^-'- 



witli acids in a previous edition. But all these things have 
been omitted. And yet scattered through the journals there 
is much valuable information in regard to ^lY potent virtues 
and any enterprising editor could have compiled enough about 
ME to occupy at least two pages of the dispensatory and 
which alone would have been worth to any physician half the 
price of the book. See to it Messrs. Lippincott & Co. that in 
the next edition of the dispensatory this onunission is made 
good or I will get after you. What you want to do is to get 
hold of some live, hustling, up-to-date editors and give them 
carte hlanche with your old dispensatory. Give them a pair 
of shears and tell them to go through it and prune, and 
prune, and prune until they have reduced your bulky over- 
grown unwieldy old book to a decent size— and price accord- 
ing. The editor of the dispensatory refers to ME as superior 
to the potassium bromide in most cases of epilepsy and even 
of minor neuroses. Do you not know that I am a specific for 
not only the minor neuroses of ganglionic origin but also for the 
major neuroses of that character? The learned Dr. Wood has 
also demonstrated that I exert the same beneficent effect in 
the maximum neuroses— such as typhus, yellow fever and 
cholera, and ' Don 't you forget it ! ' when you come to write 
ME up again in the next edition of your damned old dispensa- 
tory." 

"Now I will pay ^IT devoir to another Philadelphia 
publication, to wit: 'The American Dispensatory', ed 1896. 
The article about ME opens with that stock lie that 'in almost 
every respect I have the same action as bromide of potassium.' 
That statement will probably not appear in future editions 
after the editor of that work reads this book and I advise 
him to do so, for his better information. So this statement 
in regard to ME may be considered effectually squelched. 
The article continues by stating that: 'I do not appear to re- 
strain the movements of the heart.' Great heavens! Xo one 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

142 



has ever accused ME of restraining the movements of the heart. 
Couldn't the fellow find something else to state about ME? 
With equal truth he might have stated that I do not seem to 
restrain the movements of the bowels, or of the blood, or of 
the big toe. But these things are irrevelant. He might have 
said with some degree of originality that I do measurably re- 
strain the movements of certain other organs by diminishing 
erotic desire or by acting as an anaphrodisiac' And I can 
give no philosophical explanation of just how I produce this 
effect. It may be that MY partner is the active agent in 
this matter. Then comes that stock phrase about the acridity 
of MY taste and it is stated to be 'more irritating' than 
bromide of potassium. 'Irritating,' to what? 'Irritating,* 
how ? jME ' irritating ' ! Oh ! this is outrageous : this is un- 
endurable. What calumnies these fools give currency to 
about ME! ME 'irritating'? Why I am the most beneficent 
member of the entire materia medica if rightly used. I calm 
and assauge. I remove crows-feet— those marks of advancing 
age which cluster at the outer angle of the eyes. If the 
ladies (God bless them) only knew how I promote a youth- 
ful appearance and w^ard off those signs of age and mental 
worry they would throw massage and unguents and every- 
thing connected therewith to the dogs and keep ME con- 
stantly within reach. I will explain. The skin is composed 
of three layers: the epidermis or outer layer: the rete 
mucosum or middle layer and the cutis vera or inner layer. 
This latter is of an aponeurotic nature and contracts from 
certain causes operating through the nerves w^hich I affect 
favorably and produces wrinkles in the epidermis or outer 
layer of the skin. Wlien I am administered to any person 
whose face bears these tell-tale marks of age I cause the cutis 
vera or inner layer of the skin to relax and the crows-feet 
gradually, under my influence, disappear as though smoothed 
out by a flat-iron— and once removed they do not return: the 



143 

THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

smooth and youthful appearance remains through after life. 
So if any lady who may happen to read this is annoyed by 
those premature marks of age, the results of care, mental 
worry, anxiety, overwork, or impaired digestion or other 
trouble and desires to have them removed by a purely scientific 
method by an agent that will reach the seat of the difficulty 
let her have recourse to MY aid. Purchase of ME at the 
drug-store one ounce and place ME in a four ounce vial and 
fill it with water: Of this first bottle of the solution of ME 
take one teaspoonful in a little water before each meal and at 
bedtime. When the first vial is exhausted procure a second 
ounce of ME and of the solution take a dose before breakfast 
and supper and at bedtime. Of the solution of the third 
ounce of ME take a dose before breakfast and at bedtime 
and of the solution of the fourth ounce of ME take a dose at 
bedtime. Afterward keep a vial of the solution of one 
ounce of ME on your toilet table and if on retiring you find 
that you ' are sleepless get up and take a dose and you will soon 
drop off into restful slumber. Some precautions are necessary. 
It is a v:ell-known fact that acids of all kinds— vegetable 
and mineral— are immical to MY integrity— are incompatible 
with ME : that whenever I meet an acid a rupture ensues 
between ME and my partner whereby I become neutralized 
and non-effective. So care must be taken, while using ME 
according to above formulas, not to consume acids or acid 
fruits or else some embarrassing or injurious results might 
ensue from the encounter between MS and some acid inad- 
vertently partaken of. So also if the appetite is increased 
as in most cases it is when persons take ME internally, 
great care must be exercised while eating not to indulge too 
freely in the pleasures of the table— and not a mouthful be- 
tween meals. These directions and the preceding formulas 
are worth millions to the ladies of this country alone in the 
way of promoting their beauty and preserving their youthful 



■j^^^ THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



appearance. Why I recall that on one occasion the learned 
Dr. Wood prescribed ME for a farmer's wife who was thin, 
careworn, overworked and had poor appetite. She came 
after a few weeks to visit the learned doctor, and when he 
entered the room where she was he did not recognize her. In- 
stead of the thin etiolated old-looking person he remembered 
to ha"\e seen he was surprised to find a round-faced, rosy- 
cheeked, plump, young-looking lady. This transformation had 
been wrought by LIY potent virtues and the learned doctor 
gave all the credit of it to ME. In return I doff my cap— the 
tinfoil that covers my cork— to the doctor as a gentleman of 
great acumen who knows a good thing when he finds it." 

''But it is not in such cases alone that I am efficacious, 
but I might have been the means of saving many valuable 
lives if ]\IY virtues had been promulgated abroad throughout 
the world. The learned Dr. Wood has in another place re- 
ferred to the case of Mercedes, queen of Spain. When about 
fourteen years of age she attended school at the convent of 
Notre Dame in Paris, and at the same time a young American 
lady was an inmate of the convent and a pupil. This young 
lady in letters to her friends— since published in Scribner's 
Monthly— describes the princess: 'She is large and welL- 
formed for her age and sits up very straight, though she 
droops her head a little. Her complexion is very fine and 
clear with a healthy tinge, and her features are pleasing, 
especially the eyes, which are of a soft gray or hazel, deep set, 
with dark lashes and very bright and full of expression. 
Then she has a very white throat and pretty-shaped ears, and 
altogether promises to develop into quite a handsome woman. 
She has made herself liked by her sweet, modest ways and the 
spirit with which she enters into all our doings.' The prin- 
cess was married at eighteen to Alfonso, king of Spain. This 
sweet and lovely young woman seems to have soon lost her 
attractiveness for the profligate king who went gallivanting 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



145 



after other women. The queen thus deserted became extreme- 
ly jealous, brooded over her wrongs until she fell ill. One 
writing from Madrid about this time says: 'We had all 
noticed and lamented the change which took place in the 
queer a month or two ago : we saw that the bright color of her 
cheek had faded, that her soft dark eyes grew larger and a 
little languid; we all thought that the sea-baths prescribed by 
her physician with the change of air and scene would prove 
efficient, and that her indisposition would at most be but of a 
few days' duration. Still the last time she drove out with 
the king— just three weeks ago— she looked much worse than 
usual. She wore a large white gTenadine shawl closely drawn 
about her shoulders as though she felt chilly, although the 
day was warm; a lace handkerchief was tied about her throat 
and a pretty little chip hat was drawn down over her eyes 
as if to shade them from the light, while she held a white 
parasol over her head though it was near sundown. There 
was an utter weariness and listlessness in her general aspect 
in complete contrast with the cheerful countenance of the 
king. The poor child was even then stricken with death 
though she little suspected it.' Her condition as thus depicted 
denotes that she was affected with mild gangasthenia which 
developed into t}T)hus fever, although her physicians called it 
gastric fever with intestinal hemorrhage. The Dons did not 
understand the case. It makes no difference where the dis- 
ease occurs; in palace or in hovel— physicians do not under- 
stand typhus. But suppose that MY medical properties had 
been known to one of the queen's physicians and he had ad- 
ministered ME in proper doses at the onset of her disease it 
is highly probable from what I know of 'MY potentialities 
that the queen would have recovered— and there would be 
seated on the throne of Spain an altogether different person 
from the one now there. So I might have acted as a factor 
in changing the course of historical events, and some one 



146 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



would some day write me up as the chief factor in sociological 
probabilities, or possibilities." 

"There was the case of another young woman that in- 
terested me very much. She was known by a title of en- 
dearment as 'The Daughter of the Confederacy.' I read all 
that was published about her case in the newspapers, and 
her disease was stated to be due to that very indefinite and 
"unknown something commonly termed malaria! It was quite 
clear from the dispatches that her physicians did not under- 
stand her case at all; and I declare it to be an absolute cer- 
tainty that if they had understood the nature of gangasthenia 
and had been versed in the use of ME as a remedy that they 
would have employed ME in her case and the result would 
have been that she would have recovered. Some day, I ask 
those physicians, when they come to understand the nature 
of gangasthenia— if they ever do— and when they become 
familiar with MY potentialities — if they ever do — to declare 
in a public manner whether this statement, previsionally per- 
ceived, but made known after the fact is correct or not. But 
the possibilities of the case! Let us suppose that by reason 
of my therapeutic virtues 'The Daughter of the Confederacy' 
had recovered: that in course of time she got married and 
bore a son, who might grow to manhood and who one day 
might be elected President of the United States— the grand- 
son of Jeff Davis President of these United States— just think 
of it. Stranger things than that have happened. You see 
there are possibilities in ME. But let the veil of oblivion be 
draTMi -.oveir such imaginary forecasts. Those things might 
have happened but they never will happen! 'The Daughter 
of the Confederacy' is dead and she died a victim of the 
ignorance of her physicians and I hope that when— if ever — 
they come to a realization of their inability to cope with dis- 
ease without ]\iY aid they will say so and that with MY aid 
she would have recovered. I hope they will be manly enough 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. ._ 



to admit their ignorance— clear enough— without such admis- 
sion—but that they will give full recognition to the fact that 
if they had employed ME, a valuable life would have been 
saved— this in justice to the learned Dr. Wood and MYSELF." 
"But there are others; yes there are many others whose 
lives might have been saved by resorting to MY aid in time. 
I will instance one other. Why should typhoid fever reach 
into the United States Senate, seize Senator Hanna and hale 
him off to death and he a man of amazing vitality? Poor 
Hanna! He adds another name to the long list of those who 
have fallen victims to the ignorance of their doctors. Those 
who attended Hanna did not know what he was suffering from. 
Hanna had typhus, and Rixey and those other fellows do not 
knoTv" enough to diagnosticate between typhoid and typhus. 
Yet the thing is easy— 'just as easy as the girl knew her dad' 
as I shall presently prove by calling your attention to a 
schema of the symptoms of each drawn up by the learned 
Dr. Wood some years ago to enable physicians to make a 
differential diagnosis between the two diseases. He formu- 
lated this schema because he found that the medical mind is 
incapable of distinguishing between typhus and typhoid fevers. 
Hanna 's physicians gave the latter designation to his dis- 
ease because it is a popular term and also because people being 
instructed by the daily papers are supposed to understand 
the nature of a disease to which that name is applied. And 
yet the doctors said the case presented some anomalous symp- 
toms. True for you. Symptoms were very anomalous for 
typhoid but entirely regular for typhus if they had known 
enough to recognize the true nature of the case. It was stated 
that Senator Hanna had an attack of influenza in December 
1903. Well, he never fairly recovered from that, though he 
Might have become as robust as ever if his physician had 
known how to treat his condition properly. The condition 
was gangasthenia in mild form and that condition continued 



148 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

and became intensified until it assumed the form of typhus. 
The most important principle of medicine was obviously neg- 
lected— ohst a principiis. If that rule, more essential to be en- 
forced in the treatment of the ganglionic diseases than of any 
other class, had been followed in Hanna's case he would be 
alive today. Typhoid? Pooh! It was typhus and Hanna's 
death was due to the rankest kind of ignorance. Palace or 
hovel: senate-chamber or hut, it makes no difference where 
these cases occur, doctors never will be able to understand them 
until they are taught the nature of gangasthenia and become 
acquainted with ]\IY therapeutic properties. Here is the schema. 

TYPHUS. TYPHOID. 

Is a hyperthermy. Is a fever. 

Is a congestive disease. Is an inflammatory disease. 

Is a gangasthenic disease and Is (probably) a cerebral dis- 

is due to the environment ease and due to cerebras- 

of the individual. thenia. 

Symptoms. Symptoms. 

Frontal headache. Headache not frontal and slight. 

Insomnia, bad dreams. Sleep not disturbed by dreams. 

Weariness not weakness. Debility and not a tired feeling. 

Asthenopia. Vision not blurred. 

Pain at the nape of neck, run- None of this pain in typhoid. 

ning to base of brain and 

thence to frontal region. 
Pain at sacro-spinal junction. Pain in lumbar region. 
Extremities cool. Extremities hot. 

Hands congested, and at length Hands dry and of natural color ; 

sweating, giving the "wash- no *' washerwoman 's hand" 

erwoman's hand." in typhoid. 

Hemorrhage from bowels due Intestinal hemorrhage rare, and 

to congestion, usually cop- if it occurs is due to ulcera- 

ious and rarely absent. tion. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. ^^^ 



TYPHUS. TYPHOID. 

Pain in long bones due to con- No pain in medulla of femora 

gestion of medulla. or tibiae. 

Conjunctivag congested. Conjunctivse clear. 

Anorexia, or nausea, or vomit- Anorexia, nausea seldom, vomit- 
ing, ing never. 
Countenance a darkish red or Cheeks slightly hectic, never 

of a dusky hue. dusky. 

Finger nails purple or dark Nails of natural color. 

red. 
Patient apathetic. Patient capable of emotion. 

Patient restless. Patient stays in bed. 

Eruption— mulberry rash. . Eruption— petechias. 
Occurs during late summer Most frequent during winter 

and autumn usually, but months. 

may prevail at any season. Post-mortem discloses character- 
Post-mortem reveals general istic pathological lesions and 

congestion. no congestion. 

''Let Dr. Rixey and those other fellows who attended 
Senator Hanna look on this picture and then on that and let 
them say which one corresponds with the Senator's case. 
And when they become thoroughly cognizant of MY most 
potent and admirable qualities let them say, whether or not, 
if the Senator had been treated with doses of ME, when he 
was ill of influenza, during the December previous to his death, 
he would be alive today! These cases are typical of hundreds, 
of thousands that are occurring every year. The ignorance of 
physicians at the present day is a most stupendous problem. 
Who is to blame that so many persons are yearly victims of 
this ignorance? Obviously the teachers in the schools, and 
the writers of books. These hand down and perpetuate the 
traditional superstitions that are fostered by ignorance. Pro- 
gress of medicine, forsooth! There is none, only that which 



150 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

comes of the discovery of a new microbe. The bacterists are 
busy at the quest of the germ, but I propose to place beyond 
their interference some of those diseases which they claim to be- 
long to their peculiar province. Around the list of ganglionic 
diseases given on a preceding page I draw a line of demar- 
cation. Those diseases are amenable to MY action and I put 
up this notice: 'Ware all bacterists! I lay this injunction on 
the bacterists that they must give over seeking the germs of 
those diseases for they are not of microbic origin. This, MY 
fiat, is addressed also to the Messieurs Eminences, Messires 
Hyas Typhees and others of that ilk. They must cease to 
pursue the quest of the germs of those diseases. If they 
shall still believe that some of those diseases thus withdrawn 
by ME from their research are of microbic origin they must 
relinquish such belief under pain of being classed as danmed- 
fools for giving credence to statements which have been 
demonstrated to be false by the learned Dr. Wood and 
MYSELF." 

''In conclusion and on behalf of the efforts of the learned 
Dr. Wood to enlighten you and in reprobation of the slights 
and neglect bestowed upon those efforts and as an expression 
of MY own utter condemnation of your course and detesta- 
tion and contempt for yourselves personally I will voice a wish. 
It is related of Byron that he wished that the pretty mouths 
of all the pretty women in the world were united in one pretty 
mouth and that he might have the pleasure of kissing that 
composite mouth. It is told of Alexander the Great that he 
wished that the necks of all mankind might be united in one 
huge neck and that he might have the pleasure of cleaving it 
with his sword. Now I am not so lascivious as Byron, nor 
so blood thirsty as Alexander, but I wish that the posteriors 
of all the editors of journals and authors of books who have 
omitted all mention of ME and MY properties as discovered 
by the learned Dr. Wood— and of professors who have failed 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 151 

to set forth in their lectures the profundity of thought in- 
volved in the term gangasthenia and who still teach that the 
ganglionic diseases are due to germs;— and of all bacterists 
who still claim that the ganglionic diseases remain subject to 
their investigation were all united in one huge posterior and 
that I might have the pleasure of kicking that composite 
posterior from Maine to Texas — and finally into the bottom- 
less depths of hades where it belongs. Such procedure is 
justifiable on the grounds of the shameless wrong done to the 
learned Dr. Wood by the contemptible assortment enumerated. 

In the time of Galileo everybody gave credence to the 
Ptolemaic theory of the solar system: now every school-child 
knov\^s and understands the Copernican theory. When Galileo 
announced his discovery it was too profound for the compre- 
hension of mankind: for was it not contrary to the evidence 
of the senses. But it was true and the evidence of the senses 
was erroneous. So it is today. The ganglionic theory is too 
profound for the comprehension of those minds which are im- 
bued with the doctrines of the germ theory, but is very simple 
when once comprehended. So I present to you the learned 
DR. WOOD as a prophet without honor in his own country, 
whose profound discoveries have been so long neglected, that 
he stands today the most pathetic figure in the history of the 
country. And so, farewell! 

Mr. Bromide of Ammonium bows and retires from the 
stage— for the present. 



GUDGEONS. 

"Baiting with a sprat to catch a gudgeon," 

or words to that effect from Shakspeare is sport on a grand 
scale compared to the funny spectacle of the bacterists baiting 
their hooks with a mosquito and catching all the gudgeons in 
the land. How readily they swallow this fairy tale about a 



152 THE QUEST OF THE GERIvI, 



mosquito— bait, hook, bob, line and sinker— is shown by an 
article in vol. 59 of the "Popular Science Monthly" by that 
pre-eminent bacterist Dr. George M. Sternberg. This article 
is very improperly admitted to the pages of that journal which 
seldom issues Sludge. It ought the rather to have been em- 
balmed in the "North American Ee\T.ew" or found a resting 
place between the covers of the "Century." But let us take 
it where we find it and proceed to mince it. Sternberg has 
occupied positions of trust and emolument under government 
for many years at "Washington. He has been Surgeon General 
of the Army and President of the American Board of Health— 
c£ lamented memory (lamented by those who composed it; they 
Would like to be back in sinecure office again). He it was who 
suggested the frost ship by means of which he proposed to de- 
stroy all yellow fever germs that attempted to land in this 
country as stowaways on board ships arriving from infected 
foreign ports. That silly proposition knocked the American 
Board of Health into smithereens and it might have survived 
to the present day— but only the fittest survive. So as the 
Board was utterly unfit it became defunct. Sternberg has been 
the most persistent and consistent questrist of the yellow, fever 
germ in this country and after all his search and research and 
investigation he knows less about it than any man in the 
world. That germ is like a maggot in his brain— he can not 
rid himself of it. He has pursued the quest of this germ for 
years and so successful has he been in not finding it that now 
he is regarded as the greatest living expert in all that relates 
to the germ and the disease which it is supposed to cause and 
has only a single contestant for that honor. ^Mention of whose 
name his innate modesty forbids in this connection. ' Stern- 
berg's dictum on these subjects— the germ and the disease— have 
hitherto been undisputed; his fiat is law to the bacterists. So 
when he declares that "the bacillus of Sanarelli has nothing 
to do with the etiology of yellow fever" that is a solar plexus 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. -^'^'^ 



l)low and knocks Sanarelli out of the ring. Dr. Sanarelli is 
a Frenchman who went to Montevideo in search of shekels and 
fame, and he first sought fame by the alleged discovery of the 
yellow fever germ. Well, he found it, or said he did and he 
"wrote a long article about it which with numerous and elaborate 
illustrations occupied eighty pages of "Annals of the Pasteur 
Institute" lor August 1897. About the same time Dr. Han- 
burg at Eio de Janeiro also discovered the germ of yellow fever 
and he also wrote an article about his bacillus which was pub- 
lished in the same number of the same journal that contained 
Sanarelli 's article — and these articles are mentioned in the 
journal from which this information is taken as "two very im- 
portant communications." Well, Dr. Sternberg says that these 
two articles are of no value or importance whatever. And 
whenever Dr. Sternberg says anything on this subject you may 
bet your boots that it is so. But the funny part of the whole 
business is that Sanarelli 's and Hanberg's bacilli are not as 
like each other as two peas, but are as unlike each other as 
a porcupine and a polar bear. And so ex nihilo nihil fit: no- 
thing comes out of nothing. Sanarelli 's eighty pages of text 
and illustration and Hanberg's unknown number of pages of 
composition amount to just nothing at all because Dr. Stern- 
berg has said so and he knows what he talks about— apparently. 
Under Dr. Sternberg's direction numerous experiments 
were made by his trained assistants during the years 1887, '88 
and '89 and the doctor made a lengthy report— (published 
somewhere and it matters not one whit where), in which the 
result of these long continued and expensive experiments is 
stated in these words: "The specific cause of yellow fever has 
not been demonstrated." Why, you damned fool, there is no 
specific cause of yellow fever. The author published his ar- 
ticle on yellow fever and settled once and for all time the 
question of the cause of that disease and here you were search- 
ing for three years for something which never has had an 



154 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



existence. YThat an infernal ass! You have wasted as much 
public money in the quest of a suppositious germ and other 
tomfoolery of similar sort as would found a university. Ah I 
ha! but you got your L.L.D. For what pray? Why of course 
for your research into the cause of yellow fever, and for the 
numerous articles contributed by you to the journals. Your 
title was cheaply earned because your researches and contribu- 
tions to what is alleged to be science amount to precisely the 
same thing as Sanarelli's and Hanberg's— just nothing at aih 
Crede experto. 

We will let Sternberg make some more fun for us. In 
this article of his he refers to "the recent researches of Reed, 
Carroll and Agramonte in Cuba." The parties named were 
medical officers of the U. S. Army in 1901. The experiments 
made by these officers were directed to ascertain one fact. 
They first assumed the fact and then set about to prove it. 
They assumed that the moscjuito serves as the intermediate host 
(''intermediate host" is fine!) of the microbe of yellow fever 
and they proved the fact to their own satisfaction and im- 
mediately announced it. The mosquito was swallowed whole 
by all the gudgeons in the country. Sternberg accepted it with 
his eyes shut for he says of these experimenters : ' ' Having 
demonstrated the fact that yellow fever is propagated by the 
mosquitoes Dr. Reed and his associates next endeavored to ascer- 
tain whether it may also be propagated, as has been commonly 
supposed, by clothing and bedding which had been in use by 
those sick with this disease." What an egregious lot of asses! 
First they proved an assumed fact, and now they attempt to 
prove a foregone conclusion, for if the disease is spread by 
mosquitoes it could not be spread by fomites. Well, they did 
put the matter to a number of most crucial tests and most 
truly and most undoubtedly demonstrated it to be a fact that 
yellow fever is not spread by infection or contagion conveyed 
by clothing or bedding. In effect they most effectually dis- 



155 

THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

posed of the last leg on which a plea for quarantine could stand. 
Will some Honorable Gentleman therefore please to pop up 
somewhere in a newspaper or in a pulpit or in some journal, 
or in the forum and explain Why? Oh! Why? Why maintain 
quarantine against yellow fever? Just let someone, somewhere 
give a single solitary little bit of a reason having any validity 
whatever in support of maintaining such quarantine anywhere 
in any state of this Union or at any port of the United States. 
And Echo answers there is no reason ! Sensible Echo ! Then let 
quarantine be abolished— against yellow fever— abolished by 
the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
in Congress assembled— abolished by the legislatures of all the 
states wherever yellow fever has been or is likely to be preva- 
lent. All the money expended for labor, for germicides, for 
septicides in the exercise of ciuarantine power in the disin- 
fecting of ships and localities; all the money lost to commerce 
by the interruption of travel and traffic on land and sea would 
amount to a stupendous sum and all of it might have been 
saved by the brief scientific truth of this phrase : There is no 
germ that causes yellow fever. Then take into account the 
many thousands of lives that have been sacrificed by the nes- 
cience of medical men. The aggregate of these losses is simply 
appalling and all due to the contemptible fad — the miserable 
delusion of the germ theory. How long? 0, Lord! how long? 
shall this monstrously silly, absurd, nonsensical and ridiculous 
idea that violates the laws of Competency, of Parsimony, of 
IntegTity, of Generality and of Honesty pervade the minds of 
men? How long? The Lord only knows. It was but yesterday 
that some fool baeterist— one of Sternberg's gudgeons— had in- 
troduced in Congress a resolution calling for the printing of 
his pamphlet giving "Directions for the Destruction of the 
Yellow Fever Mosquito." The resolution was referred to a 
committee where it will be provided with needed sepulture. 
But the idea of the germ as the cause of yellow fever must 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



be killed and killed effectually and it can only be done hy 
the abolition of quarantine against the disease. 

But this is a digression. Let us return to the Sternberg- 
and have some more fun with him. He rises to explain. Well 
correct theories need no explanation but he finds that there 
is one position of the ''mosquito" theory that needs to be 
strengthened and accordingly he attempts to fortify it by beg- 
ging the Question. It has always been held by the bacterists 
that the yellow fever germ was a very delicate exotic creature 
and could not stand cold weather and so was killed by the first 
frost of the season. But now that the mosquito has been made 
the "intermediate ho^i:" of the germ the old notion of frost 
killing the germ must be abandoned. "One by one the roses 
fall." So Sternberg to forestall objections on this score vol- 
unteers the information that, Ha ! ha ! ha ! " Yellow fever epi- 
demics are terminated by cold weather because [profound 
thought, attention all!] because then the mosquitoes die or 
become torpid. ' ' Ho ! ho ! ho ! Oh dear ! Isn 't that too funny ? 
Dear George : you will be the death of us with your comical 
remarks and you exclaim: 0, that mine enemy would write a 
book! Well, here it is. Pitch into it. Only we are your friend 
and are trying to rid your brain of that maggot which has 
infested it, lo, these many years. 

But there is more fun ahead for us. In his article Stern- 
berg quotes circular No. 5 issued from the Govenor-Generals 
office in Havana under date of April 27, 1901. This circular 
was signed by Gen. Leonard Wood, but it must have been 
written by or at the instigation of that trio of young doctors 
who are said by Sternberg to have "demonstrated the fact that 
yellow fever is propagated by mosquitoes" and of course they 
wanted new regulations to be issued in accordance with this 
surprising "demonstration" of nescience. They drew up the 
new rules and of course Gen. Wood signed them— laughing the 
while in his sleeve at the absurdity of the efforts of these young 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 15' 



men in trying to hoodwink the scientific world by a theory so 
simple and so apparently nonsensical. The first paragraph of 
the circular asserts the mosquito theory to have been demon- 
strated without any peradventure. (All the same it is false.) 
The other rules are based on this assumption of its correctness 
and the funniest one is that which provides that: '^ Nurses 
and attendants shall remain isolated, so as to avoid any possible 
danger of their conveying mosquitoes from patients to non-im- 
munes" — doctors being allowed to visit patients at will. Now 
isn't that the funniest precautionary regulation against the 
spread of any disease ever devised by the mind of man? Ho! 
ho ! ho ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! "Danger of conveying mosquitoes ! ' ' Surely 
David Starr Jordan is a wise man for he said: ''There is no 
medical craze as absurd as not to have a following among phy- 
sicians who are supposed to be educated." But why isolate 
the nurses and not the doctors? Is there no "danger of con- 
veying mosquitoes ' ' by the doctors ? A mosquito that knows his 
business can hide in a doctor's pocket just as easily as he 
could in a nurse's. That regulation is n, g. Another para- 
graph is based "on the assumption that mosquitoes never travel 
far." Did anybody ever see a mosquito "travel?" According 
to the cuts in the comic papers mosquitoes do travel, with grip- 
sacks under their wings and the cuts and these regulations 
are on a par for comicality. The concluding paragraph directs 
that in each case a "chart of pulse and temperature be kept 
as the best guide to proper treatment." More nescience, 
* ' Proper treatment ' ' ! These fellows know nothing about prop- 
erly treating a case of yellow fever. The way to treat the dis- 
ease is to begin the treatment at its onset on the ohsta prin- 
cipiis principle. These fellows have pursued a continual round 
of baseless assumption and futile deduction; words take the 
place of things and notions are fostered of which the absurdity 
amazes us. They have abandoned every position ever occupied 
and defended by the bacterist and as a last resort they blame 



158 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



an innocent insect as the ' ' intermediate host " of a no-germ. 
Now they are cornered. If they abandon the mosquito, they 
can not assume any other insect to be the host. Well, they 
must abandon the mosquito theory for it is not tenable. So 
they must accept the ganglionic theory at last as the only theory 
that is competent, general and honest enough to explain the 
nature of yellow fever. We make our compliments to Dr. 
George M. Sternberg, A.M., M.D., L.L.D., etc., etc., etc., for 
the amusement he has afforded us and dismiss him. Adios, 
George. 

Now turn we to another article and try to get some enter- 
tainment out of it. A fellow by the name of Doty— to be 
specific Alvah H. Doty, M.D., Health Officer of the Port of 
New York— has contributed a bunch of Sludge to Vol. 167 of 
the "North American Review," under the caption of "The 
Scientific Prevention of Yellow Fever. ' ' The content of this 
Sludge has no relation to its title and the article ought to be 
labeled "An Argument in Favor of the Re-organization of the 
American Board of Health." By the way who is editor of the 
N. A. Review now? There is a good deal more Sludge admitted 
to its pages in these days than formerly. We used to get 
some very readable stuff in years gone by, interspersed occa- 
sionally with Sludge, but nowadays— Pah ! The office filled 
by Doty is a political adjunct to New York, and the appoint- 
ment to it depends upon "pull." The emoluments of the po- 
sition were some years ago about $50,000, quite a snug salary 
for a man of Doty's caliber. Doty, when he wrote the article, 
believed, in Sanarelli's microbe, but it may be stated as a 
matter of fact that he now believes in the mosquito theory of 
yellow fever, for he seems to be one of those gudgeons who 
would rise to mosquito bait. Doty states that quarantine as at 
present managed is not successful in keeping the disease out 
of this country and what is needed for that purpose is a Na- 
tional Board of Health. With such an institution in good 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 159 



running order there is no doubt the disease could be success- 
fully combated. But as things are at present Doty is in 
despair. He will find his soul down in the heels of his boots 
if quarantine shall be some day abolished. That at least is 
our present hope. Incidentally Doty says some other things 
that are of no account whatever. But he quotes one or two 
things that have some significance. Thus he gives us a copy 
of a resolution adopted by the Third National Sanitary Con- 
vention held in New York in 1895 which reads: "Resolved that 
personal quarantine may be abolished provided fomites of every 
kind be rigidly restricted." Well, now. what is the sense of 
placing "rigid restriction" on fomites after those young doctors 
in Cuba have demonstrated the fact that yellow fever can not 
be disseminated by fomites? After that the germ theory has 
not a leg to stand on and only fool bacterists will believe in 
the mosquito theory and every sensible man in the profession 
to whom these presents may come will accept the demonstrated 
truth of the ganglionic theory and will support and contend 
for the doctrine that yellow fever is not of microbic origin. 
Likewise will every other sensible person. So we leave the 
fool bacterists to wallow in the folly and the shame of their 
ignorance in announcing the mosquito theory; in supporting and 
advocating something that subverts the evidence of the senses 
and controverts every principle of scientific deduction. Let 'em 
wallow! Doty also quotes some sensible remarks from Reynolds 
"System of Medicine," which we copy: "A survey of the 
whole history of the disease [yellow fever] leaves it still to be 
considered that, at the most, contagion is to be admitted as 
a merely possible supposition, extremely hard even for its ad- 
vocates to trace with certainty in any definite instance, while 
the geographical relation of the disease and its promotion by 
local unsanitary conditions are palpable and overwhelmingly 
important. ' ' Bravo ! Doctor. Loud applause heard in the dis- 
tance, from the learned Dr. Wood. Here is one man who has 



160 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



profound views of the nature of the disease, and correct as far 
as they go. But yellow fever has prevailed in cities where the 
utmost cleanliness was preserved and the best sanitary condi- 
tions were "palpable." How do you account for that doctor? 
If you were alive today, it is safe to assert, that you would 
not accept the mosquito theory but would embrace the ganglionic 
theory as affording the only rational explanation of the disease. 
This theory attributes it to the environment of the individual— 
to all the circumstances which affect the individual. All de- 
pressing agencies cooperate to produce it. These exist in the 
varying conditions of the atmosphere in general, and in the 
particular part of it which each person breathes, as regards its 
purity, warmth, coldness, dryness, moisture, electricity, and 
motion— and especially the amount of ammonia it contains. 
They are to be found in the social relations which man sustains 
to his fellows; in the circumstances of his life as regards his 
food, clothing, labor and sleeping arrangements; in short in 
everjrthing that affects his corporeal existence from within or 
without. The chief factors of causation are excessive solar heat 
and the lack of ammonia in the atmosphere, but all the factors 
contribute their share to the propagation of the disease. The 
conclusion of the whole matter is that there is no specific cause 
and that it is impossible for such cause to exist. Doty's efforts 
as fugleman for the National Board of Health have come to 
naught. If he ever again contributes brain-ooze to some journal 
he is hereby requested to send a copy hitherward in order 
that we may bestow on it our special animadversion and have 
some more fun with his efforts. So we dismiss him. Adieu! 
Doty. 

THE BREANT CHOLERA PRIZE. 

The first imformation we had of the existence of this prize 
was obtained from an article printed in ''The Scientific Amer- 
ican" of date of Nov. 24, 1877. This information thus derived 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 161 



is authentic: and makes the existence of this prize a bona fide 
thing. We copy from that article: "By a will dated August 
28, 1849, a French gentleman named Breant left to the Paris 
Academy of Sciences the sum of $80,000 (400,000 francs), to be 
awarded as a prize to any person who would discover either a 
cure for Asiatic cholera, or the cause of the disease. He further 
directed that the interest of this fund, until the principal was 
finally awarded, should be donated as premiums to investigators 
who might contribute important information tending to advance 
knowledge relative to the malady. The rules of the French 
Academy, under which the prize will be awarded are as fol- 
lows. The competitor is required: 

(1). To point out a system of medicine [treatment?] that 
cures cholera in the immense majority of cases; or 

(2). To indicate in an incontestable manner, the causes 
of Asiatic cholera, so that by suppressing those causes, the epi- 
demic will cease; or 

(3). To discover some certain prophylactic as evident for 
cholera, as, for instance, vaccine is for small-pox." 

''The existence of this Prize has been the cause of an im- 
mense amount of medical research, and hundreds of papers have 
been submitted to the Academy. The great Prize has never 
been awarded, and probably it never will be, for before the 
cause or the cure of Asiatic cholera can be discovered, the 
malady itself, owing to our constant progress in knowledge of 
preventive sanitary precaution, will probably, like the plague, 
liave disappeared altogether." These editorial vaticinations 
have come to naught so far, and it is highly probable that 
eventually all will be unfulfilled. For it is highly probable that 
after many years of waiting and expectation the great Prize 
will finally be awarded to us. 

We filed our claim to the Prize first under date of April 
12, 1878. Copies of this claim were filed in the office of the 
Secretary of State at Washington, and in the archives of the 



162 THE QUEST OF THE GEEM. 



then Legation now Embassy of the United States in Paris. The 
former copy has recently been withdrawn by ns from the 
custody of the Secretary of State. We discovered the specific 
for cholera without having any definite knowledge of the na- 
ture of the disease and in order to comply with the terms of 
competition for the Prize it was necessary to set forth some 
sort of a theory to account for the action of the specific in 
curing it. So we evolved the following which we copy from 
our original claim: ''The cause of the disease is passive con- 
gestion originating positive irritation. The blood accumulates 
in vessels which retain their healthy excitability and stimulates 
these vessels into excessive action. The congestion occurs in 
the portal system of veins and is dependent upon a depressed 
condition of the capillary circulation of the liver. The venous 
radicles in the intestinal mucous membrane share in the con- 
gestion and are unable to receive the blood from the arterial 
radicles and capillaries, which therefore become distended and 
irritated. This irritation relieves itself by profuse secretion — 
severe and exhausting serous discharges result which with the 
attendant phenomena constitute Asiatic cholera." 

When that was written in 1878 it was considered by us to 
be a philosophical and scientific exposition of the nature of 
cholera. But now after the lapse of twenty-six years (to a day) 
all that stuff seems to be the most arrant nonsense — like many 
another theory evolved by many another man. But all the same 
we were right about the remedy as time will show. We copy 
further from our original claim: ''The remedy for this disease 
is Bromide of Ammonium. This medicine acts especially in al- 
laying irritation of the ganglionic nervous system and in re- 
lieving disorders of the mucous membrane. Its specific action 
is upon the vaso-motor nerves. Hence when it reaches the liver 
it acts like an 'Open sesame!' upon the closed capillaries of 
that organ, the current of blood dammed back in the portal 
veins flows through the liver. The engorgement of the capil- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 163 



laries of the intestinal mucous membrane is relieved; warmth 
is restored to the extremities; the cramps of the muscles pro- 
duced by the irritation of the ganglionic nerves cease and all 
the phenomena of the choleraic attack disappear under the 
benign effects of the remedy." 

The modus operandi of bromide of ammonium, that is to 
say its therapeutic action is fairly depicted, but after much 
thought and study of the subject we concluded that our claim 
needed to be amended in regard to its theory. Accordingly on 
April 12, 1885, seven years to a day, after filing our original 
claim and nineteen years ago at this present writing we sent to 
the Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences our 
"amended and additional claim" to the Breant Prize in which 
we declared that: "Cholera is acute general veno-motor gan- 
gasthenia. The term gangasthenia explains itself. All forms 
of it are due to the environment of the individual. The par- 
ticular nosological shape assumed by any ganglionic disease is 
due to the nature of the environment. The environment de- 
termines the kind of ganglionic depression and the results flow- 
ing from it follow each other in natural order: 1. passive con- 
gestion; 2. the phenomena of disease, Cholera being a gan- 
glionic disease is thus developed." The specific again named 
was Bromide of Ammonium. 

It will be perceived that if there is no error in the state- 
ments on which our claim is based that we are entitled to the 
Breant Prize. There is no room for error. We have proved in 
an incontestable manner that the cause of Asiatic cholera is and 
only can be found in the underlying condition which we have 
designated "acute general veno-motor gangasthenia" (See ar- 
ticle, "Cholera," in this book) and we have pointed out a spe- 
cific for the condition upon which the collective phenomena 
recognized by all mankind as cholera depend. In brief we have 
indicated the cause of cholera and have pointed out the specific 
for the disease and as a logical conclusion to these statements of 



164 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



fact and knowledge we are entitled to the award— have been 
entitled to it since the day our claim was filed with the Perpet- 
ual Secretary of the Academy of Sciences in Paris. In equitj^ 
the Breant Prize has belonged to us for twenty-six years but. 
notwithstanding our equities the Academy of Sciences has— as 
far as our information extends— continued to bestow the interest 
of our money during these twenty-six years upon some member- 
or members of the profession in France whose contributions to 
medical science have been adjudged, by the Academy, to be 
worthy of one of the annual prizes derived from that interest. 
Unless the Academy contemned a notification sent by us, some 
years ago, to the effect that we would hold the Academy respon- 
sible for all the interest on the Breant fund and informing the 
Academy that no further awards from the interest on our money 
could be made : that such awards must cease because such matter 
was no longer at their discretion, had been removed from the 
purview of their judgment, for the reason that our ecjuit}^ was 
supreme and absolute— unless, we say, that such notification has 
been disregarded awards derived from the interest have been 
made annually to competitors by the Academy; that is unjustly, 
wrongfully and inequitablj^ the interest of our money has been 
misapplied by the Academy of Sciences, whereas it should have 
been allowed to accumulate until the final award of the Breant 
Cholera Prize to us— to whom it belongs. 

There can be no doubt about such final adjudication. We 
will, if you please, leave the decision to the most eminent bac- 
teriologist the world has yet produced and to the biggest fool 
bacterist to be found an;>nvhere. We pit Pasteur against Koch. 
Hear Pasteur? He has said:— "No single cause is adequate 
to produce cholera : there is no microbe or germ that acts as such 
cause and the raison d'etre of cholera is past finding out." 
That settles the question as far as Koch and all other fool bac- 
terists are concerned for it annihilates (reduces ad nihil— to 
nothing) the comma hacillus and we will finish the job by re^ 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 165 



ducing Koch to the same dimensions before we get through with 
him. But Pasteur asserts that the problem presented by cholera 
was too deep for him to fathom— not so however with the uni- 
versal Yankee nation, whose mottoes ever are "Excelsior" and 
*'Nil Desperundum. " We will disgruntle the effete scientists 
of the old world by showing them one who in a single particu- 
lar is greater than Pasteur, one who denies and disproves his 
dictum, one who asserts that the raison d'etre of cholera is not 
psst finding out, one who, at the very time at which Pasteur 
made his pessimistic statement had already found out the "rea- 
son for the being" of cholera and one who because of this dis- 
covery will yet capture the Breant Prize. Behold us! And 
liide your diminished heads Ye Eminences, Ye Hyas Tyhees 
and others of that ilk when ye learn the fact that the mildest, 
meekest, most modest and most humble of the members of the 
medical profession in this country has carried off that glittering 
prize from hundreds of competitors who have been hungrily 
striving after it for, lo, these many years. What a great honor 
that will be for us, and also for this country that an American 
physician has captured this great prize. We do not care for 
the honor: we want the prize itself and if we can get that we 
will share the honor with the medical fraternity of the United 
States, assigning to each a proportionate share of it. We will 
relinquish all the honor of this great discovery to those who are by 
courtesy our professional brethren. They may share it between 
them, share and share alike. Excluding quacks and fool bac- 
terists there are some 70,000 regular physicians in this country 
and upon each one of them out of our abounding generosity we 
bestow one-seventy thousandth part of the honor of the dis- 
covery. The Eminences, the Hyas Tyhees and others of that 
ilk; the mere professors in the colleges and most editors of jour- 
nals though they have acted very shabbily toward us are gra- 
ciously granted a share of the abundance of the honor. We 
would not retain an iota of the honor. But we want the money 



166 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

and in retnrn for this wholesale bestowal of the honor on our 
confreres we expect them to aid us by all the means at their 
disposal to secure the award of the Breant Prize. We advise 
them to do this in order to escape future deserved chastisement. 
And in order to commemorate this memorable division of honor 
among our dearly beloved brethren we propose to have a leathern 
medal struck of which shall certify that the holder thereof has 
been made the recipient of One Share of the Honor of this great 
discovery; but there is a condition precedent to its bestowal. 
Every physician who desires to be made the recipient of this 
said medal must be a subscriber to this book.— Price, paper 
cover 75 cents; bound in cloth $1.50. Send in your subscrip- 
tions early and avoid the rush. 

Now, if our theory is correct, the third condition established 
by the Academy of Sciences is an impossibility because it can 
not be complied with. In the nature of things ''some certain 
prophylactic as evident for cholera, as, for instance, vaccine is 
for small-pox" can not be discovered. There was however, a 
fraudulent effort made by a fellow named Ferran, some years 
ago, in Spain, during an epidemic of cholera in that country 
to prove the efficacy of a vaccine in the treatment of the dis- 
ease. He pretended that he had discovered such a vaccine and 
he did a thriving business in applying his alleged vaccine, at 
$10.00 per, to the arms of all who resorted to him. It was his 
practice to administer a pill to all upon whom he operated, for 
its constitutional effect, and as the effect was some watery stools, 
the plausibility of the theory was sustained by these seeming 
choleraic discharges. But this Spanish quack was bowled out 
by a reporter who submitted to the application of the alleged 
vaccine and who instead of swallowing the pill retained it in his 
mouth and had it analyzed by a chemist. The active agent in 
the pill was found to be croton oil, and Ferran being put out 
of business by this disclosure admitted that his alleged vaccine 
contained the same substance which produced on the skin of 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 167 



his victims its characteristic vesiculation. This ended Ferran. 
There have been methods of prophylactic treatment of 
cholera suggested and practiced by others which were conceived 
in honesty of purpose and promulgated for the benefit of man- 
kind. The only one of these methods with which we are fam- 
iliar is the one proposed by Dr. Reginald B. Leach of St. Paul, 
Minn. Dr. Leach terms his methods Arsenization. The prac- 
tice in carrying out his proposed method is to introduce into 
the system of the individual one-thirtieth of a grain of arsenic, 
by means of an aseptic ivory point, applied to a slight scarifi- 
cation of the cuticle. Dr. Leach has evolved a theory from a 
good many speculations of his own and a single observation of 
Virchow. He quotes Yirchaw as saying: ''There are many 
cases of acute arsenical poisoning which are not distinguishable 
by their symptomatology and morbid anatomy from cases of 
epidemic cholera." Dr. Leach paraphrases that utterance in 
these words: ''As Virchow says, arsenic produces a condition 
which may preclude a differential diagnosis between it and 
cholera." Dr. Leach bases his speculation- on the delusion of 
similia similihus and is misled by Virchow 's remark as to the 
similarity between cholera and acute arsenical poisoning. These 
two diseases— as they may be termed, do resemble each other 
somewhat as regards their symptoms, objective and subjective, 
but their morbid anatomy is certainly very dissimilar, for how 
could it be otherwise? A poisonous dose of arsenic produces 
acute inflammation of the stomach while in cholera post mortem 
reveals no sign of gastritis whatever— nothing but congestion 
and no person who knows anything about the morbid anatomy 
of gastritis produced by arsenic and the congestion of the 
stomach in cholera would have the hardihood to say that they 
could not be distinguished, the one condition from the other. 
The inclusion of "morbid anatomy" in his statement by 
Virchow is a deduction made hastily and through inadvertence. 
Arsenization does not commend itself therefore to the Dliilo- 



168 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



sophic mind as a feasible or practical method of prophylaxis^ 
The theory must be assigned to the place where all brain-ooze 
finds itself eventually deposited. And so Dr. Leach you must 
relinquish your high hopes of fame from Arsenization and be 
content to accept the rational ganglionic theory of the learned 
Dr. Wood. Dr. Leach went to Congress and had the honor of 
having his memorial printed as a Senate document in 1898. He 
asked for an appropriation to test his method. Did he get it? 
Oh! No. But he still urges his pet theory and last year he 
wrote to Gov. Taft at Manila and sent him some printed matter 
which, as previously mentioned in these pages, was referred as 
a joke, to us by that fellow Carter. It is mighty funny how 
long a delusion will cling to a man's mind. Leach will cherish 
his as long as he lives and he can no more give it up and ac- 
cept the only rational theory of cholera ever propounded than 
he can fly. Such is the constitution of the human mind. The 
most positive proofs will not change religious beliefs. The 
same is true of medical beliefs. So we say of Leach : ' ' Ephraim 
is joined to his idols; let him alone." 

We have had some experience with Congress also and we 
find that body very shy about ordering documents to be printed. 
A report may be made by some old stick-in-the-mud of an offi- 
cial which when presented to Congress is immediately ordered 
to be printed, although when examined it is found to be of no 
practical value whatever. For instance some years ago— more 
than twenty-five— some one who was at the time Surgeon Gen- 
eral of the navy prepared a report on cholera, which, when it 
was printed in very large type, made a volume about the size- 
of Webster's quarto dictionary. How many copies were printed 
is unknown to us, but it is safe to say that not many of them 
are in existence today. Most of them have found their way to 
the junk-shop long ere this. A few may be found on some 
out-of-the way shelves in some of our large libraries, but as a 
book for any purpose except as junk it is wholly valueless. Its; 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 169 



publication cost, for its composition and printing, a goodly sum 
of money and it would not have found a publisher in any place 
on earth except in the government printing office, as an official 
report. But our experience with a measure proposed by us 
was different. We drew up "an act to abolish quarantine on 
account of cholera and yellow fever" of twenty-five lines and 
sent copies of it, to a number of Senators and Congressmen. 
Only one member replied to our request to introduce our bill. 
(It will appear on a succeeding page). He wrote: "I think 
that there would be no hope of the passage of your proposed 
bill. The quarantine laws are based on the theory that Asiatic 
cholera is a contagious disease, which I understand is the theory 
accepted by the medical profession. If this theory were ad- 
mitted to be incorrect then perhaps the quarantine laws would 
follow the theory and be repealed. Until, however your views 
have been adopted by the profession, I can not see any hope 
for the passage of your bill." And he declined to introduce it 
in the House. In consequence of that letter we have under- 
taken a campaign of education, the beginning of which is the 
issuance of this book. The people must be taught the truth; 
the Eminences, the Hyas Tyhees and others of that ilk, the edi- 
tors of journals, the mere professors in the universities and col- 
leges and the word slingers and space writers in the newspapers 
— all who have contributed to the immeasurable incubus of the 
world— sludge— must learn the immutable truth that neither yel- 
low fever nor cholera are caused by germs. Then all will join 
in the glad refrain and swell the song until the whole land shaU 
be filled with the music thereof : 

Down ! Oh ! Down with the germs, 
Down to the bottomless pit. 

For we have learned the truth. 
And the learned Dr. Wood is IT. 

It is our intention to keep at this work until all idea of the 
germs of those two diseases shall be eliminated from the minds 



170 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



of mankind, until quarantine against them shall be abolished. 
"We intend that the rays of illumination that proceed from our 
humble penny dip shall outshine the calcium lights and search- 
lights so ostentatiously and arrogantly waved aloft by the 
Eminences and Hyas Tyhees of medical science. If this book 
shall not accomplish that end we desire to give notice that we 
will publish another on the same lines and we will not give over 
until the world is convinced that the ganglionic theory rests on a 
basis of immutable truth. Then ignorance of these matters and 
superstition about them will be most effectually squelched. This 
is to be no spasmodic effort like the spasms of virtue and cleanli- 
ness that, at long intervals, move the ]\Iayor of Chicago. The 
campaign of education herewith opened is to be a continuous per- 
formance. 

It is not to be supposed for an instant that we have inter- 
mitted our efforts to obtain the just award of the Breant Prize. 
Like Dr. Leach we tried to interest the officials of government 
in the matter and in Dec. 1903 addressed the following to The 
Hon. Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:— 

A MEMORIAL. 

Sir:— The undersigned, your memorialist, has learned, from 
statements issued by the War Office, that more than sixty thou- 
sand persons died of cholera, during the past summer, in the 
Phillippine Islands, and he informs you, that, if proper means 
had been used, not sixty nor even six persons would have per- 
ished from that disease in those islands. 

Your memorialist states that twenty-five years ago he dis- 
covered a specific for cholera, and made it known by publishing 
the fact in the medical journals of that day, and in other ways, 
that is b}^ letters written to the newspapers and to individuals. 

Your memorialist states that the specific discovered by him 
is the Bromide of Ammonium, which remedy, if administered 
in proper amount and at proper intervals to any person attacked 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 171 



by the disease will have the effect of instantly relieving that 
person; and if the use of the remedy shall be continued the 
person will ultimately recover from the attack. 

Your memorialist states that he gives no credence to the 
popular notion that cholera is due to a specific microbe which 
has been assigned as the cause of the disease, and he contends 
that such belief is irrational, because no person has ever proved 
or will ever be able to prove the relation of cause and effect 
between any microbe and the disease known as cholera. 

Your memorialist states that he has evolved the correct 
theory of cholera and has expressed it in these words : ' ' Cholera 
is acute, general, veno-motor gangasthenia, " and that condition 
is caused by ' ' the environment of the individual, ' ' and he as- 
serts, affirms and asseverates it to be an incontrovertible fact 
that these few words contain the only rational theory of the 
cause, nature and pathology of the disease ever propounded in 
this irrational world of ours. 

Your memoralist states that his discovery is two-fold: he 
has discovered the cause and nature of cholera and a remedy 
which is indicated by every symptom of the disease : which is 
specifically adapted to the pathological condition underlying it, 
and which meets all indications at every stage of its progress; 
the one is the rational complement — the scientific correlative of 
the other, and the remedy fulfills the design of a specific in the 
most perfect manner imaginable. 

Your memorialist states that in 1849, a French gentleman, 
named Breant, left by will to the Paris Academy of Sciences 
four hundred thousand francs and directed that the sum be 
held as a prize, to be awarded to the person who would discover 
the cause or nature of Asiatic cholera or a remedy which would 
cure it in the immense majority of cases, and your memorialist 
ha\dng made such discoveries did file his claim to that prize 
with the Perpetual Secretary of the Paris Academy of Sciences 
and also filed copies of the same in the office of the Secretary 



172 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



of State of the United States and in the archives of the United 
States Legation (now Embassy) at Paris in the year 1878— and 
subsequently he filed copies of his amended claim at each of 
the several places before named. 

Your memorialist states that during the past twenty-five 
years he has made every effort possible to him to demonstrate 
the truth of his doctrines relative to the nature of cholera and 
to promulgate the knowledge of the properties of Bromide of 
Ammonium in order that he might establish his claim to the 
Breant prize; that in pursuit of these objects he has solicited 
the aid of wealthy persons and the assistance of influential 
journals but has failed to find any one who would take any in- 
terest in the matter either for the benefit of humanity or for 
the advancement of science, and hence he addresses this mem- 
orial to you, in the hope that through you the government may 
be induced to adopt such measures as will result in effecting 
the objects which your memorialist has been unable to attain. 

Your memorialist would suggest that, in furtherance of the 
objects of this memorial, you would direct the Surgeon General 
of the Army to send to the Philippine Islands two (2) tons of 
Bromide of Ammonium, packed in bottles, each containing one 
pound, and having a label which shall set forth in concise terms 
the therapeutic properties of the remedy, together with such 
directions as he shall deem necessary— the quantity thus sent 
to be distributed to the different military posts and towns in 
the islands preparatory to and in anticipation of a recurrence 
of the cholera during the ensuing season. 

Your memorialist would further suggest that you direct 
the Surgeon General of the Army to adopt such other measures 
in the premises as he may deem advisable. And your memorial- 
ist will ever pray, etc. 

(Signed) Eugene H. Wood, M. D. 
National Home, Wis., 
December 30, 1902. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 173 



Now what do you suppose the Secretary of War did with 
that report? He simply referred it to the Surgeon General of 
the Army. About that time some important matters connected 
with the Philippine Islands were engrossing his attention. It 
seems that Gov. Taft had made a journey on horseback to some 
town in the interior about fifty miles distant from Manila and 
as he consists of nearly three hundred pounds— about four-fifths 
of which is water— with a large infusion of adipose tissue, and 
as he endured the unaccustomed method of transportation with- 
out any great amount of discomfort he cabled the facts to the 
Secretary of War as something of momentous importance and 
stated that he had stood the trip first rate. The Secretary of 
War cabled his congratulations on the fortunate experience and 
as a joke inquired how the horse stood the trip— which is sup- 
posed to be a jocose and covert allusion to Gov. Taft's aver- 
dupois. Thus do great men in office wile away the tedious 
hours devoted to official duty— cables paid for at so much per 
word. Obviously our memorial was forgotten by the Secretary 
of War and the Surgeon General of the Army in turn referred 
it to a pigeon hole in his desk. 

Then seeking to re-awaken interest in the matter we ad- 
dressed a letter to the President in which we used this language : 
(After detailing our efforts to obtain some action on the part 
of the officials we continued) "Now, You, Mr. President are 
a person who does things and so I appeal to you and ask you 
to issue an order directing the Surgeon General of the Army 
to put this matter to the test in a complete and thorough-going 
way. O'Reilly (thats the Surgeon General) has the reputation 
of being an old-stick-in-the-mud and the fool bacterists in his 
department will persuade him that there is nothing to our 
theory and no virtue in the remedy." Our letter and the ac- 
companying papers were referred by the President to the Sec- 
retary of War and by him they were referred to O'Reilly, Sur- 
geon General of the Army and by him they were sent to us with 



174 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

the statement that they were returned ^'without remark.'^ 
O'Reilly must have been too full for utterance or else he felt 
that he could not do the subject justice. Soon after this the 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Islands died at Ma- 
nila of cholera, and we cut the despatch announcing the fact 
out of a newspaper and sent it to O'Eeilly "without remark" 
and explained that if ''we might make any remarks they would 
have reference to the damned stupidity of medical men, who, 
when an actual specific for cholera has been pointed out to 
them, neglect to use it and thus allow their choleraic patients 
to die." We also sent some other papers to O'Reilly, al- 
ways "without remark". Then in the hope that we could force 
him into making some disclosures about the matter at our in- 
stance there was introduced in the House on Nov. 9, 1903, this 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Whereas Eugene H. Wood, doctor of medicine, an Amer- 
ican physician, a citizen of the United States, and late an as- 
sistant surgeon in the United States Army during the civil war, 
claims, and for more than twenty-five years has claimed, that 
he has propounded the only correct and rational theory of the 
cause and nature of Asiatic cholera, and that he has discovered 
a specific for the disease and in consequence of which enounce- 
ment and of which discovery he laid claim in eighteen hundred 
and seventy-eight to the Breant cholera prize of four hundred 
thousand francs, founded in eighteen hundred and forty-nine, 
which is in charge of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, France ; 
all of which matters have been set forth in a memorial letter 
addressed by Doctor Wood to the Secretary of War, and by 
him referred to the Surgeon General of the Army; Therefore 

Resolved, The Senate concurring, that the Surgeon General 
of the Army is hereby directed to report to Congress what, if 
any, measures he resorted to in order to establish and confirm 
or to disprove the claims of the said Doctor Wood ; and the Sur- 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 175 



geon General of the Army, if lie has ordered any test of the 
specific named by Doctor Wood to be made in the treatment of 
soldiers affected with cholera in the Philippine Islands, is re- 
quested to furnish the results of such test, and also any other 
-information which he may possess on the subject of this con- 
current resolution. 

This resolution was "referred" to the Committee on Inter- 
state and Foreign Commerce and ordered to be printed, and 
there it has reposed ever since. It has received decent sepulture 
for it will never be reported back to the House with a recom- 
mendation that it do pass. 

But finding that our efforts to obtain a response from the 
Surgeon General of the Army were not to be successful we ven- 
tured on another tack. We drafted a proposal bill which pro- 
vided for the abrogation of the quarantine laws in these words : 

AN ACT TO ABOLISH QUARANTINE AGAINST YELLOW 
FEYEE AND CHOLERA. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States in Congress assembled, That on and after 
the passage of this act whenever yellow fever or cholera shall 
be prevalent in any village, town or city of the United States 
or of its insular possessions, no person shall do anything to 
prevent freedom of intercourse, by travel and traffic, with the 
inhabitants of such village, town or city. 

2. No vessel coming to any port of the United States or 
of its insular possessions from any other country in which yel- 
low fever or cholera is then prevalent, and no vessel arriving 
at any port of the United States or of its insular possessions and 
having yellow fever or cholera patients on board shall be placed 
in quarantine and the cargo of no such vessel shall be disinfected 
for the purpose of destroying the supposed germs of yellow fever 



176 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



or of cholera: nor shall any such vessel be disinfected for such 
purpose. 

3. Any person who shall violate the provisions of this act 
shall be deemed to have conunitted a misdemeanor and on con- 
viction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than 
$5,000, or by imprisonment not to exceed five years or by both 
such fine and imprisonment to be inflicted according to the best 
judgment of the trial judge. 

4. All acts or parts of acts that conflict with the pro- 
visions of this act are hereby repealed. 



GANGLIONIC DISEASES. 

This class of diseases is not recognized (that I am aware of) 
in any work on medicine. Diseases are classed according to 
their location in the different tissues and organs of the body, 
but as yet no medical writer has classified the diseases of the 
ganglia ; chiefly, perhaps, for the reason that it is just beginning 
to dawn upon the medical mind that these portions of the 
nervous system are the primary seat of disease. According to 
this view, then, a ganglionic disease is one in which the primal 
lesion is a disorder of the ganglia— and to this definition may 
be added the qualifying phrase— and in which the succeeding 
phenomena of the disease follow each other in accordance with 
the ganglionic theory. 

One disease has been accepted as belonging to this class, 
and there is the highest commandence for the statement. In 
his "Address on Medicine," before the American Medical As- 
sociation, on June 7, 1882, Dr. Octerlony said: ''The original 
investigations published during the last year by Prof. Da Costa, 
trace the morbid processes of Bright 's disease to the deep re- 
cesses of the nervous system and establish beyond much [any?] 
doubt that the renal lesions are induced by structural changes 
in the great abdominal [renan] ganglia of the sympathetic." 

These investigations by Prof. Da Costa consisted in the post 
mortem examination of the bodies of a number of patients who 
had suffered from Bright 's disease. In every instance the renal 



178 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



ganglia were found to have undergone structural change. 
Bright 's disease is, then, scientifically speaking a ganglionic dis- 
ease. Prof. Da Costa's results prove that fact. The highest 
medical commandence in the land accepts the fact and notes 
it as a remarkable discovery. The renal lesions are the effect of 
the ganglionic lesions. I affirm that this is established beyond 
the shadow of a doubt. Furthermore, the ganglionic theory 
finds strong support and confirmation in the phenomena of this 
disease. The primal lesion is a disorder of the renal ganglia— 
gangasthenia— which is followed by the passive congestion of 
the kidney. As the disease advances changes take place in 
the structure of the ganglia, which are the resultant effect of 
the precedent disorder. The kidney undergoes degeneration on 
account of the cessation of the nerve force due to the lesions of 
the ganglia. The character of the blood becomes altered in ac- 
cordance with the kind of antecedent congestion. The three 
conditions, gangasthenia, passive congestion and albuminsemia, 
follow each other in natural sequence and pathogenic order. 

The disease can no longer be called albuminuria with any 
appropriateness for that is only a symptom, not alone of this, 
but of other diseases. Rightly interpreted albuminuria means 
albuminaemia, which signifies congestion of the kidneys and this 
indicates disorder or disease of the renal ganglia. 

The definition must then be modified thus : a ganglionic dis- 
ease is one in which the primal lesion is a disorder of the ganglia 
which, if not corrected, will terminate in structural changes in 
the ganglionic tissue. 

Now there are other diseases in which the ganglia have 
been found to have undergone changes. In typhus the abdom- 
inal ganglia have been observed to be ''in a withered state of 
a shrunk and leatherlike toughness, while their natural color 
has altogether disappeared or has been changed to a rusty brown, 
yeast yellow, fawn or slate gray color." 

But we are debarred by the accepted dogmas from tracing 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 179 

the morbid processes of typlins to the "deep recesses of the 
nervous system,*' because, forsooth, those dogmas hold that 
typhus is due to a specific poison and that the wasted degen- 
erative changes of the ganglia of this disease are consequences 
of the action of the poison and not the antecedents of all the 
phenomena present in the course of any given case. Either the 
renal ganglionic lesions are consequences in Bright 's disease 
or the abdominal ganglionic lesions of typhus induce the phe- 
nomena of that disease. But our highest commandence asserts 
that the lesions of the kidney in Bright 's disease are due to 
structural changes in the renal ganglia. By the same rule then 
the morbid conditions of t;>T)hus are wrought by the affected 
abdominal ganglia, or else there is a specific poison that causes 
Bright 's disease which remains to be discovered. The same may 
be said of exopthalmic goitre, in which the cervical ganglia are 
affected, or of milk sickness in which the solar plexus is in- 
volved, or of any of the ganglionic diseases in which there is 
congestion of the ganglia (hyperemia of the nervous centers) ; 
which condition may in this connection be regarded as a struc- 
tural change. 

It is possible that these views are erroneous and that each 
disease of this class may eventually be found to be caused by its 
specific bacillus. It is possible, too, that some of the diseases 
which are now attributed to a bacillus may be shown to be 
ganglionic. For instance, the doctrine has been propounded 
that tuberculosis is due to a microphyte that has been impaled 
upon the slide and whose likeness has been published. Now 
what more reasonable than the idea that tuberculosis is a gan- 
glionic disease; that the destruction of lung tissue is a process 
analogous to the degeneration of renal tissue in Bright 's disease 
and which is due to antecedent changes in certain pulmonic 
ganglia? The truth of such speculation may one day be con- 
firmed by the careful investigations of some expert pathologist, 



180 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



who will do for tuberculosis what Da Costa has done for 
Bright 's disease. 

The ganglionic diseases are generally intolerant of opium, 
and do not yield to quinine. In them opium exerts none of its 
physiological effects, either as anodyne or hypnotic, and they 
are amenable to quinine only when complicated with the feature 
of periodicity, a condition which remains to be .formulated. 

The use of all manner of so called antiseptics, to prevent 
the spread of the epidemic ganglionic diseases, has been proved 
to be utterly futile. 

It has not been established that certain of those diseases 
are either infectious or cantagious, in the sense in which those 
words are applied today. 



THE CONGENEITY OF THE GANaLIONIC DISEASES. 

The opinion used to prevail that diseases were ''congener- 
ous"; that as to their source or origin they possessed the 
quality of " congeneracy. " But the words have become obso- 
lete. Diseases are no longer regarded as due to similarity of 
cause or as having a sameness of origin, and hence the idea has 
as have the words that expressed it, fallen into disuse. The ac- 
cepted doctrine of the day is that diseases are spcQific in their 
character; that they have specific origins and run speciSc 
courses, and have neither congeneity nor homogeneity. Hence 
most diseases of the ganglionic class are spoken of as "singular^' 
or "curious" and are discussed singly as not being connected 
either congeneically or pathologically with each other. 

While none of the ganglionic diseases, when their nature 
and causes come to be generally understood, can be termed 
"singular" with any propriety or accuracy, yet it is very singu- 
lar that some of them are regarded as specific and others of 
them as non-specific. The reason for this, obviously, is in the 
great diversity of views held by members of the medical pro- 
fession in regard to the nature of diseases and their phenomena. 
If the ganglionic diseases were recognized as such there would 
be no question as to their congeneity. In the present state of 
opinion their sameness of origin must be established, just as 
their specificity is supposed to have been, by argument— "the 
analogies" being omitted as of no account. 



182 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



It is absolutely essential to a proper appreciation of any 
disease that its genesis shall be correctly understood. It is 
easy to say of a disease that it is due to a specific poison, but 
it is impossible to prove it by any process of reasoning, except 
in the case of those specific diseases about whose origin there 
can be no dispute, and which have no bearing on the point at 
issue. The question is a fundamental one, and its elucidation 
has been the source of much error in the elementary teachings 
of medicine. An historical case will illustrate this: ''In 1860, 
Arabs to the number of 476 were shipped on the Schah Jehold, 
at Alexandria, to proceed to Liverpool to navigate a man-of- 
war thence to their original port. The passage from Malta oc- 
cupied thirty-two days, during which time the weather was cold 
and stormy and the hatches were battened down. The men, 
unaccustomed to the rigors of a northern climate, and not pro- 
vided with suitable clothing, huddled below for warmth and 
shelter. They were extremely crowded on board, the space be- 
low deck being insufficient for so large a number, and there 
were no means of properly ventilating, their quarters. The per- 
sons and clothing of the men were filthy in the extreme. The 
between-decks soon became intolerably foul, for many of the 
men being landsmen were seasick on the voyage, and they dis- 
charged the contents of their stomachs and of their bowels all 
over the parts of the ship occupied by them. The stench and 
effluvia thereby engendered were so offensive that the vessel 
had to be sunk on her arrival at Liverpool. The rations served 
to the men were much below the proper standard as regards 
quantity." The author of the book from which the foregoing 
extract is quoted remarks that the case of these men, many of 
whom fell victims to typhus, furnishes the only instance to the 
then present generation to observe the phenomena of typhus be- 
cause the disease was of rare occurrence. This is a very unsophis- 
ticated remark, for typhus occurs sporadically in all countries 
and has, since the year 1860, occurred epidemically in many 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. . 183 



places. The principal factor of the causation of the disease in the 
instance narrated was rebreathed air. If those men, thus confined 
in the 'tween-decks, could have been supplied with plenty of pure 
air, it is a safe assertion to make that— the depressing effect of 
rebreathed air being eliminated— the men could have endured 
all other discomforts of their environment and would have come 
out at the end of the trip unscathed by disease. 

The query arises on consideration of the case of these men, 
whether the specific poison of typhus was engendered by their 
surroundings, or whether the depressing agencies which consti- 
tuted their environment produced that form of gangasthenia 
which assumed the nosological shape of typhus? 

The specificists are at no loss to account for the action of a 
specific poison after assuming its generation. They say that 
it is inhaled or swallowed, and thus finding admission into the 
bodies of the healthy, it exercises its morbific influence on tEe 
blood. But they do not show that the blood is primarily af- 
fected, and disregarding this doctrine account for the symptoms 
of disease on the ground of a disturbance of the nervous system. 
The different specific poisons, however, have not yet been dis- 
played in separate form. They have been engendered by as- 
sumption and have been brought into the blood by ''the anal- 
ogies." And yet the phenomena of disease are of nervous- 
origin. 

It is more difficult to explain the connection between de- 
pressing agencies and their effects than it is to account for the 
entrance of a poison into the blood. There is the poison and 
there is the blood— and "the analogies" to bring them together 
so there is no difficulty about the matter whatever. But how 
do depressing agencies act upon the nervous system? They act 
in some cases directly and in others indirectly and as a matter 
of philosophic truth the method of their action can not Be 
stated in words other than that depressing agencies do depress. 

Last summer a woman standing in the doorway of her 



184 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



home in this village saw a thunder-bolt descend and strike a 
tree sixty rods distant from her. The sight so affected her that 
she was prostrated upon her bed and seized with vomiting. 
She recovered fully on the next day. The question does not 
arise whether there was an unseen and intangible poison pro- 
ceeding from that ball of electrical fluid, which permeated the 
atmosphere and invaded the system of this woman, and produced 
the physical disturbance from which she suffered. Because we 
know that fear, acting as a factor of depression, caused the dis- 
order that resulted in vomiting. Fear is classed with the emo- 
tions of the mind. The feeling has many phases which may be 
said to correspond with the objects exciting it, and thus each 
object would rouse the feeling in forms or degrees differing 
from each other, but agreeing in kind and intensity with its 
varying cause. In the case cited fear produced prostration and 
vomiting. As a feeling of insecurity on board ship it begets 
phenomena that are termed seasickness. A few years ago [date 
of article, 1883] a shoemaker in an obscure corner of a large 
southern city sickened and died. The dread terror his case in- 
spired caused the people of that city to flee as for their lives, 
crowding the cars and clinging with desperation to the windows 
and railings. Terror, dread, horror— the intensest forms of this 
immaterial feeling drove them from the city in panic stricken 
crowds. Those who were compelled to remain were none the 
less affected. 

As an expression of extreme and sudden fear we have the 
eyeballs starting from their sockets, or in medical language, 
exopthalmos. There is a "curious" disease which presents this 
expression in an exaggerated form as an objective symptom, 
giving an eye ball that literally protrudes, and known partly 
from this as exopthalmic goitre. As a subjective symptom ex- 
opthalmos exists in yellow fever, typhus and most so called 
malarious diseases. The eyes feel as though they bulged out- 
ward and when the feeling is severe in the graver maladies they 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 185 



seem to the patient as though they would start from their sockets. 
In the emotion the expression is not due to a poison nor is 
the actual protrusion in the severer cases of exopthalmic goitre. 
In 1868 MM. Prevost and Jolyet showed that the forward move- 
ment of the globe of the eye 'produced under excitation of the 
superior end of the great sympathetic, after section of this nerve 
in the neck, presents the characters of movement, produced by 
the muscles of organic life, and depends on contraction of the 
smooth fibres which form part of the orbital aponeurosis. This 
aponeurosis, in fact, owing to the layer of smooth fibres with 
which it is covered, forms a fibro-muscular sheath, a kind of 
contractile covering, conical in form, and with a focal base di- 
rected forward, which by contracting, presses upon the posterior 
part of the globe and causes protrusion and the feeling of for- 
ward projection, which shows that exopthalmos, in whatever dis- 
ease it may occur, objectively or subjectively, is non-specific in 
its character and is wholly due to ganglionic disturbance. 

So in like manner it can be shown that the reflex pains of 
the different ganglionic diseases are non-specific ; that the rachi- 
algia of scurvy and of dengue are due to identical causes; that 
the vomiting of cholera and seasickness are produced by the 
same nervous disorder ; and in fine that all the symptoms of this 
class of diseases point to their homogeneity. Their pathology 
discloses the invariable presence of congestion, and recent re- 
search traces their primal origin to structural changes in the 
ganglia. 

But, say the specificists, we admit that the specific poisons 
attack the ganglia. Of course, and they do it by the law of 
elective affinity; certain poisons for certain ganglia! But is use- 
less to pursue the dividing absurdities further. 

The physician who treats a ganglionic disease with the idea 
that it is due to a specific poison, treats it neither rationally nor 
scientifically; but he who treats a ganglionic disease as one due 
to disorder of ''the deep recesses of the nervous system," has 



186 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



the correct conception of its nature. He will be able to recog- 
nize it in its incipiency and check it before irretrievable injury 
has been wrought. Eemedies administered to eliminate a poi- 
son do not have the desired effect. Remedies given to restore 
the ganglia to their normal condition abate evidences of dis- 
eased action. Which is the rational view and which the logical 
method « 



'^ MALARIA." 

The following article sets forth in substantial form oui 
views on the nature of "Malaria." As a sub-title there ap- 
peared under the caption when the article was originally pub- 
lished in the Michigan Medical News, Vol. IV (1881) this sen- 
tence, "Extract from an unpublished lecture addressed to the 
graduating class of the Medical Department of the University of 
Michigan." 

Following this came a Note which read: "This lecture has 
never been delivered, but the writer stands ready to deliver it 
whenever he is desired to do so. The attention of the Professors 
of the Medical Department of the University is respectfully in- 
vited to this extract which is a good sample of the whole." 

"malaeia.^' 
Malaria delenda est. 

Young Gentlemen:— It is now nearly twenty-five years 
since I sat as one of a class where you are now sitting, about 
to receive the crowning honor of the curriculum, and heard the 
words of caution and advice which fell from the lips of a man 
who had grown gray in the service. It had fallen to his lot to 
have performed many of the toils, and to have received but few 
of the rewards of professional life. He has now gone to his 
final reward. He closed his address with this sentence: "Go 
forth, then, and glean in the fields of science, and bring your 
sheaves and lay them at the feet of your beloved Alma Mater. ' ' 



188 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



In pursuance of that behest I have done my devoir for 
nearly a quarter of a century, and return now bringing with me 
my sheaf to lay at the feet of my Alma Mater; and I present 
it too as the cap-sheaf until it shall be capped by some more im- 
portant discovery in the field of medical science. 

Before I proceed further I desire that the professors will 
please to be seated on the front row of chairs. (In compliance 
with the request the professors, after a brief hesitation, de- 
scended from the stage and ranged themselves in front of the 
speaker.) 

And now I wish to ask the class a few questions : Do these 
gentlemen here, the professors, still teach that malaria is a poison 
of an unknown kind, generated in paludal regions and littoral 
districts by the action of the sun's rays on decaying vegetable 
matter; that it consists of spores or low vegetable organisms 
which are absorbed into the system and affect the blood? Do 
they still teach this as a doctrine to be believed as an infallible 
utterance ? 

(A voice: ''They do.") 

Then, gentlemen, I have to announce to you that there is 
no such thing. That malaria is a miserable lie, a cheat, a fraud, 
a humbug, a myth, a delusion. That no such thing or substance 
has existence save and except in the imaginations of those who 
teach and of those who believe the doctrine. There is absolutely 
no such thing as malaria per se. There never was and there 
never will be. No one has ever seen malarious spores nor ever 
will. 

I presume that these gentlemen here, the professors, have 
taught you that the systems of human beings can be saturated 
with this poison, but that it will remain latent until circum- 
stances occur favorable to its development; that the poison can 
not ascend to the second story of a house, but will climb a 
mountain five hundred feet high, and have instructed you in all 
the other properties of this bizarre and erratic poison? 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



189 



(A voice: ''They have.") 

Miserable men ! It is high time that a missionary had come 
among ye, for there is great need of his work in your midst. 
(The professors hang their heads. The students groan.) You 
taught me these self -same errors, and I started out in my pro- 
fessional career prepared, as I supposed, to encounter this mon- 
ster ' ' Malaria. ' ' My first patient was a man who presented, as 
I conceived, a typical case, and I prescribed the regulation reme- 
dies. In a few days he returned and reported that he was 
feeling worse than before. (A laugh in the audience.) I con- 
vinced him that his trouble was malaria, and persuaded him 
to take some more of the same medicine. I did not see him 
again for some time but when I did I saw that he had com- 
pletely recovered. On inquiring I learned that after taking 
my medicine a day or two without benefit, a neighbor had ad- 
vised him to try "Snoozer's Bitters,"— one bottle of which 
had effectually cured him. 

My next case of "malaria" was one that seemed just like 
the first, and I thought it a good opportunity to make some 
reputation. I procured a bottle of "Snoozer's Bitters," and, 
adding a little something to disguise the taste and color, de- 
canted it into another bottle and gave it to No. 2 (Sensation). 
The code had no terrors for me then. 

I anxiously awaited results. The next day No. 2 came 
back, brandishing the bottle in his hand, he exclaimed, in an 
excited manner- ''What's this?" 

I answered that it was medicine to cure him of his "ma- 
laria, ' ' 

"You're a of a doctor!" he ejaculated. "This is 

nothing but 'Snoozer's Bitters.' You can't fool me on that, I 
have a dozen empty bottles at home, and it does not do me a 
bit of good though I have been taking it regularly for a month. ' ' 

He wanted his money back, but I am happy to say, for the 



190 THE QUEST OF THE GEBM. 

honor of the profession, that he did not get it, and he went 
away in high dudgeon. 

Case No. 3 was a man who came to me in the spring time 
of the year, whose symptoms were decidedly malarial. I in- 
quired minutely into his condition and announced to him that 
he was suffering from the effects of ' ' malaria. ' ' 

"Malaria! ! where would I get malaria?" he asked. 

I replied that he had been down into Egypt the previous fall 
and had got his system saturated with the poison, which had 
remained latent all winter and was just now making itself felt. 

''What is malaria, anyway?" he inquired. 

I explained the theory of "malaria" to him and he scouted 
the idea. 

"It is just a bug-a-boo of the doctors and they use the term 
to conceal their ignorance," he said, and went away to consult 
another physician, who treated him, as I afterward learned, for 
rheumatism. 

These cases set me to thinking that there might be some 
mistake about the matter, and on studying it up I found that 
occasionally some physicians had claimed the view that I now 
take, but were overborne by what was called the weight of 
opinion on the other side, and which I have come to regard as 
the densest of stupidity, for after all, stupidity is the great bane 
of the profession from the lowest to the highest. 

A year ago I was in New York and called on the Boss Conk- 
ling of Medicine. I propounded to him a new theory of the 
congestive diseases, and he simply glared at me and swelled up 
as though too full for utterance. 

"You infernal fool," I exclaimed, "I suppose you believe 
in malaria!" 

He recovered sufficiently to ring the bell for his servant 
and have me shown the door. My last remark was injury as 
well as insult. His income was $60,000 per annum, and "ma- 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 191 



laria" brought him half of it. Believe in it? Of course he did 
—with every fibre of his being. 

It is a fitting climax to the simple use of the words mat aer 
by Lancisi in their proper sense — the meaning of which words 
has become broadened, widened, deepened and extended in 
every direction until in their modified form of "malaria" it 
includes everything that is unconjecturable in pathology— it 
is a fitting climax, I say that his countrymen have discovered 
the veritable thing itself and have given it a name. And I 
presume these fellows here have taken up the story and re- 
tailed it, with the due embellishment of their fancies, until now 
you are perfectly familiar with the shape, size and every at- 
tribute of the hacillus malariae? (A voice: "They have.") 

Wretched men! Could you not at least have waited until 
you saw it yourselves, or must you, forsooth, copy and give 
currency to every pathological lie invented by foreigners? Is it 
not enough that you foist upon us their bad therapeutics? Ye 
are the high priests in this temple of Apollo; formulate the 
truth in this matter and promulgate it ! Get out of this rut ! 

To you, young men, I repeat the charge given to me: Go 
forth in the fields of science, and, having gleaned your sheaf, 
bring it and lay it at the feet of your Alma Mater. You can 
cap this sheaf of mine by formulating the condition which is 
now expressed by the term "malaria." Faugh! It makes the 
mouth taste bad to utter the word. 

(By this time the Professors were hanging their heads low 
in silent sorrow. The audience respected their grief and with- 
drew, while the band played the Dead March.) 

Note by the reporter— That evening there was a funeral on 
the University grounds. A pit— a deep, deep pit— had been dug 
and into this each member of the class assembled there cast 
from one hand a volume, each written by a different author, 
in favor of the pernicious and detestable doctrines of malaria, 
and with the other he strewed the grave with a handful of 



192 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



printed words. These had been cut out of the text-books where- 
ever the words "malaria," "malarious" and "malarial" had 
occurred in their pages. The ceremony of interment was closed 
by the speaker of the day, who said: Malaria! In the name of 
Hygeia and of Therapeia I exorcise thee from the minds of men. 
Avaunt ! Be gone and trouble them no more ! 

The next day there was visible in a conspicuous place on 
the University grounds a stone bearing this inscription: 

SACEED 

to the 

PROGRESS OF MEDICINE 

Hie Jacet 

MALARIA 

The monster in whose name so many 

have been slain has at last perished. 



Erected by those who hold the doctrine in derision. 
Mourned by the Prophets. 

At each side of this large stone were two smaller stones^ 
one bearing the word "Malarious," and the other the word 
"Malarial." Its offspring had perished with it. 

The Profesors wore the usual badge of mourning. They 
had lost one of their oldest, most respected and satisfactory 
friends. 

[This address seems to have been delivered.— Editor.] 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



193 




SIR BROM-AN 



THIS IS SIR BROM-AM. HE HAS BEEN KNIGHTED BY THE LEARNED DR- 
WOOD; GIVEN THE ACCOLADE WITH A STEEL PEN. HE BEARS ALOFT THE 
TORCH OF SCIENCE AND CARRIES THE STANDARD OF GANGASTHENIA. 



THE LUNKHEADS OF SCIENCE. 



Prof. Pearson of England, a scientist of repute has made 
this profound reflection:— "What science needs at present is 
to get rid of most of its data and investigators with brains 
enough to interpret what is left. At least 50 per cent of the 
observations made and the data collected is worthless. In en- 
gineer's language we need to 'scrap-heap' about 50 per cent of 
the intellectual products of the nineteenth century labeled 
science." 



194 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



The paradoxical title ''Lunkheads of Science" is used to 
designate those who serve up the data of ignorance and label 
them science. Our brilliant friend Mr. Brom-Am has been in- 
vited to discourse to us on this interesting subject and he will 
now entertain us with some of his characteristic remarks. 

(re-enter MR. BROM-AM.) 

(Loquitur) :— Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Eminences, 
Messieurs Hyas Tj^hees and others of that ilk ! At the request of 
the Learned Dr. Wood I appear before you again to point out 
to you a few of those collectors of the data of ignorance which 
they label science, and whose intellectual products are to be 
^'scrap-heaped." 

The damnedest lunkhead of science on the surface of the 
earth today is undoubtedly a fellow named Robert Koch of 
Berlin. He is the fellow who some years ago alleged that the 
comma bacillus discovered by him at Damietta in Egypt was 
the cause of cholera and all lunkheads gave credence to that 
statement. It will require many years of effort on the part of 
your true scientists to rid the world of that idiotic idea. Yet 
such alleged discoveries are accepted as evidence of the Progress 
of Medicine and are seldom disputed when made by the little 
tin-god of the bacterists. 

Some day Koch will find his comma bacillus on the "scrap- 
heap" along with most of his alleged discoveries, while the pro- 
found discovery made by the learned Dr. Wood will be hailed 
by the world as filling a vast hiatus in scientific knowledge, for 
the simple theory evolved by him, that cholera is acute general 
veno-motor gangasthenia will gain recognition in due season. 

But it is enough to cause M. Nobel to turn over in his 
coffin when that aggregation of lunkheads, the Caroline In- 
stitute of Stockholm last year awarded the Nobel Prize in 
medicine to Koch. And in the name of heaven! For what? 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 195 



"For researches looking to tlie j)reA^ention of tuberculosis" and 
of course these researches include that celebrated fiasco that 
Koch made some years ago over his reported discovery of a 
specific serum for the cure of that disease. So the announce- 
ment that the Nobel Prize was awarded to him jars the scien- 
tific world. It would be interesting to learn the views of M. 
Nobel about the extraordinary award of the prizes founded by 
him. Perhaps our spiritualistic friends can get in communica- 
tion with him and secure a message from him upon the subject. 
Meanwhile Koch smiles — in his sleeve — he has won the prize 
for no addition to human knowledge and in direct violation of 
the provisions of M. Nobel's will. 

However I am not done with Koch and will proceed to 
roast him some more. On May 3, 1903, the following com- 
munication from him was published in "The Milwaukee 
Sentinel": 

PROF. KOCH'S THEOEY OF TYPHUS. 

BY PROF. KOCH, M. D. 

Note — The frequency of typhoid epidemics in the United States caused 
The Sentinel to cable its Berlin correspondent to obtain an opinion on 
the question "How to Fight Tj-phoid," from the greatest living authority 
on that disease, Prof. Koch. When the cable arrived the eminent doctor 
was on his way to Africa to continue his studies on the malaria germ, 
but he has now been heard from and his valuable counsel is appended. 

Special Correspondence. 

Berlin, April 23.— I propose to answer the question, ''How 
to Fight Typhoid" in a broader sense than suggested, for what 
American newspapers describe as typhoid is undoubtedly often 
the more serious variety of typh fevers— typhus. True, in 
isolated cases the latter and typhoid are easily distinguished 
from one another, yet it is a fact that often they are so merged 
as to baffle even experts as to proper classification. 

While possessing only unprofessional reports— those of the 
daily press— respecting the present typhoid epidemics in the 



196 THE QUEST OE THE GERM. 



United States, I do not hesitate to say that in niimerons cases 
cited the word typhus should have been substituted for the 
term typhoid. 

This article being intended for lajnnen, it can not be my 
purpose to discuss the two diseases scientifically. I will, on 
the contrary, endeavor to bring forward only such arguments 
as appeal directly to everybody's understanding. 

Above all, which is typh fever's favorite stamping grounds? 
City or country? 

Every newspaper reader with a memory will answer : The 
country districts: and if he has access to medical statistics he 
will find that the mortality from typh fevers and the fre- 
quency of their occurrence in cities have decreased steadily 
during the last ten or fifteen years. 

Why are city people less subjected to these deadly diseases? 
Because sewerage, plenty of hot and cold water, facilities for 
bathing make them cleaner than the average country folks. 

If a typh fever epidemic is reported from a modern city 
look at the map of the place. You will find the hotbed of the 
disease either in the oldest quarters, having antiquated or in- 
adequate sewerage and water supply, or in the suburbs, added 
to the town for political reasons, but not yet blessed with city 
improvements. In the majority of cases such suburbs are 
"waiting" for sewerage, in the meanwhile getting along with 
cesspools, whereby every householder renders every other house- 
holder's premises dangerous for this reason: The typh fever's 
specific poison generates in the living human body, the dis- 
charges of which preserve the germs of the disease. Such will 
rise out of the cesspool through atmospheric or other agencies, 
or during the cleansing process, by overflowing or by impreg- 
nating the neighboring soil. The germ is hardy and whenever 
it enters a living body the disease is communicated. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 197 



If you live in an improved section, where at some former 
time cesspools flourished, avoid well water. The soil is liable 
to carry the disease into the wells. If you notice any defects 
in your sewer, leave the premises until same is attended to, for 
the virus of typh fevers may vitiate the air you breathe. An 
ill trapped closet should be condemned at once as a breeder of 
typh fever germs, 

I have found that typh-fever epidemics are often artifi- 
cially created by the unwarranted notion that the disease is 
not necessarily contagious, a false idea, not only held by lay- 
men and the ignorant generally, but even by doctors, some of 
whom do not hesitate to distribute typh-fevers patients in the 
general wards of hospitals. 

I warn everybody that typhus, as well as typhoid, is com- 
municated from man to man, that it is highly contagious — as 
contagious as cholera, for instance. Typhus and typhoid can 
be restricted and fought by the public health authorities and 
henceforth must be subjected to the rules and regulations that 
apply to cases of cholera and malaria. 

I spent three months in the typhus and typhoid districts 
about Treves, Germany, where unimproved towns and villages 
were alike affected with deadly results. When I went there as 
government commissioner, I prepared statistics about each fever 
stricken household in order to keep track of the disease. In 
this way I learned that one case was propagated by another, 
despite ordinary sanitary precautions. First one person sick- 
ened, two or three weeks later a second, again after a few weeks 
a third, etc., etc. — a perfect chain! The disease was communi- 
cated by inhaling the patient's breath, by a handshake, by 
wiping his brow, by washing his linen in the same tub with the 
rest of the people, etc. 

In conclusion let me state briefly how the population of 
the Treves district was saved from being decimated by the 



198 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

typhus and typhoid epidemic. The methods first introduced 
there and the good results had may easily be duplicated in any 
afflicted community the world over. 

No less than seven small towns and villages were afflicted, 
the number of patients being over 300 at the time when the 
government took the matter in hand. Previous to that 125 per- 
sons had died of typhoid or typhus in that district. 

I found thirty-two persons ill to the death, and remo^^ed 
them at once to a barrack lazaretto, set up on the hill outside 
the infected district. As a matter of course the soil conditions 
about the lazaretto had been fully investigated and were satis- 
factory in every way. 

The sick people left in the houses were completely isolated 
by trained nurses, sisters of charity, and a disinfector was ap- 
pointed for every two afflicted houses. The treatment was the 
usual one, but the additional precaution taken saved the lives 
of every one of our typhoid and typhus patients; not a single 
man, woman, or child died, while before that every third pa- 
tient had succumbed to the disease. 

Isolation did more; within three months the epidemic was 
completely stamped out, but we remained six weeks longer to 
observe whether it would or it would not raise its head again. 
That was so much time wasted, I am happy to say. 

No patient was sent away from the hospital, or released 
from isolation in the houses, unless his discharges had proved 
free from typhus by three successive bacteriological investiga- 
tions. At the end of the three months there was not a single 
typh-fever bacillus to be found in the villages which had been 
pronounced "doomed" on account of the epidemics. And this 
was achieved by absolute isolation of the sick and by observing 
ordinary hygienic rules with respect to the living. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 199 



Sewerage, cleanliness, isolation, then will stamp out typhus 
and typhoid. Let the health authorities treat these diseases, 
and fight them as they would cholera, and all is well. 



The learned Dr. Wood commented on Koch's screed in the 
following words: 

OLD AEMY SURGEON SCORES KOCH'S TYPHUS 

THEORY. 

. I desire to express my dissent from the views and doc- 
trines set forth by Prof, Koch in The Sunday Sentinel of May 
3, and to enter my protest against the dissemination in this 
country of the nescience promulgrated by that scientific mounte- 
bank in his own. 

I will first pay my respects to him. He is an eminent 
physician in Germany, a man of note, who is recognized as a 
distinguished bacterist. But he has never, as far as I know, 
or as any other person knows, made any discovery in his special 
studies which is of the slightest practical value to medical 
science. He discovered a bacillus in the discharge of cholera 
patients, which he named from its shape the comma bacillus, 
and alleged that it is the cause of cholera; but its presence, if 
present in that disease, is incidental to or resultant from path- 
ological changes. The truth is that cholera is not caused by a 
microbe of any kind whatever, but is due to the environment of 
the individual; its epidemicity is due to the fact that many 
persons are subject to the same environment. 

I discovered the true nature of cholera more than twenty- 
five years ago, and pointed out the specific for its cure. But 
the much heralded comma bacillus announced by Koch as its 
cause overshadowed— completely adiunbrated— my more bril- 
liant and profound discovery of the nature of the disease and 



'200 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

its specific. Besides medical men have become so thoroughly 
indoctrinated with the views and opinions of the bacterists, that 
they are content to believe what is set forth by these intellectual 
myopes rather than to dispute their conclusions. Hence bac- 
terical doctrines have gained such sway over the minds of the 
younger members of the medical profession that there is no 
one brave enough to dispute the irrational statements of the 
teachers of bacterism, and at this day it has come to pass that 
the present generation of doctors believe implicitly that all the 
different diseases are each due to a different species of microbe. 
Even pneumonia they believe to be caused by a microbe which 
bears the designation of pneumococcus, and no wilder vagary 
was ever seriously entertained by the human mind. This kind 
of science is a blind fetichism, and each particular microbe 
when brought into the field of vision immediately becomes a 
fetich to the observer. Bacterism is measurably and to a great 
extent a fad, and Prof. Koch is one of its chief faddists. It will 
be remembered that he announced some years ago with a great 
flourish of trumpets from his laboratory that he had succeeded in 
making a preparation which was a specific for consumption, 
and the thing turned out to be a most unmitigated failure, which 
proved him to be a man who traded on his reputation. Yet 
there are people who still swear by him and read with a^vidity 
such balderdash as the stuff from his pen that was published 
in the Sentinel of May 3, entitled, "How to Fight Typhoid." 

In his article Prof. Koch, referring to typhus and typhoid 
fevers, says: "In isolated cases they are easily distinguished 
from each other, yet it is a fact that often they are so merged 
as to baffle experts as to proper classification. ' ' 

This statement is utterly erroneous. The ordinary phy- 
sician can not distinguish between the two diseases, and typhus 
in isolated cases is almost always mistaken for typhoid by the 
generality of doctors. The disease termed typhoid is a fever, 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 201 



but the disease known as typhus is a hyperthermy, and unless 
practitioners understand the mechanism of fever— as few of 
them do— they can not appreciate the distinction which marks 
the difference between the two. Now I am an expert, though 
not recognized as such, and a little thing like the problem set 
by Prof. Koch does not baffle me. But I much doubt if he 
understands the mechanism of fever, about which he discourses, 
so as to be able to tell me the distinguishing characteristics of 
fever and hyperthermy. Yet some years ago I drew up and 
published a schema [printed in preceding pages of this book] 
of the different symptoms of these two diseases, by the study of 
which any physician can readily make a differential diagnosis 
during the life of a patient and need not wait for the result 
of an autopsy to learn if he was mistaken or not. These mistakes 
have often been made in the past and will continue to be made 
in the future, and they will not be prevented by anything Prof. 
Koch has ever done or written or by any addition he has ever 
made to what we call the science of medicine. 

Mercedes, queen of Spain, died of typhus, which was diag- 
nosed "gastric fever with intestinal hemorrhage" by her phy- 
sicians. Palace or hovel, it makes no difference where the dis- 
ease may occur, the doctors can not distinguish between typhus 
and typhoid. 

In 1879 an epidemic of fever occurred in Denver, and the 
disease was termed typhoid by the city health officer and by 
the physicians of the city who treated any of the patients who 
were ill with the fever. One doctor alone, in a city of 40,000, 
where there were 300 other doctors, dissented from this opinion. 
And his opinion was correct, for all the published data estab- 
lished the fact that the epidemic was one of typhus. 

In 1846 Dr. Jenner, professor of pathology in University 
college, London, made sixty-six post mortem examinations of 
patients who had died of what had been recognized and treated 



202 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



as typhoid fever. Of these, twenty-three presented the an- 
atomical sign of typhoid and forty-three were without this sign. 
"Which is to say that forty-three cases of typhus were treated 
as cases of typhoid. 

Last summer (1904) there was an epidemic of what was 
called typhoid in Chicago. From what I was able to learn of 
the character of the disease I have no hesitancy in declaring 
my opinion that the epidemic was one of typhus and not of 
typhoid. 

Prof. Koch says the two diseases are often so merged as 
to baffle even experts to distinguish them. I do not under- 
stand what he means by their being "merged," and it would 
baffle an expert to find out. But if he means that the two 
diseases run into each other and become so blended that it is 
impossible to distinguish whether a patient is suffering from 
the one or the other, some of the preceding details given by me 
bear out his assertion. The reason for the inability of the ob- 
servers—even experts— to make the distinction is that they do 
not know how to distinguish between them, and it is the "know 
how" that constitutes the expert. The two diseases are, how- 
ever, as distinct as yellow fever and scarlet fever, and can be as 
readily distinguished as those two diseases— if one knows how. 

Prof. Koch still clings to the superstition that typhus is 
contagious— "as contagious as cholera, for instance," or say, 
as yellow fever. I help him to another example, for he un- 
doubtedly believes in the contagiousness of yellow fever. "One 
case was propagated by another," he says. In saying this he 
displays that he is a careless observer and lacks depth of mind, 
for his remark is more the result of preconceived ideas than of 
any profound study of the subject. He finds one person taken 
sick after another and he takes it for granted that the con- 
tagion from the first affected the second person. Now, the re- 
sults of the investigations and experiments made by the medical 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 203 



officers of the United States army in Cuba has established the 
fact that yellow fever is neither contagious nor infectious and 
typhus is a disease of the same general nature, and it is just 
as certain that it, too, is neither contagious nor infectious. 
Prof. Koch may have found any number of bacilli in the dis- 
charges of the patients whose treatment he supervised, but he 
can not rationally attribute typhus to any specific microbe, for, 
like cholera and yellow fever, it is due to the euAdronment of 
the individual. 

I wish to be understood that what I inveigh against particu- 
larly is the setting of this man upon a pedestal as an eminent 
scientist on account of alleged discoveries which have no prac- 
tical value and most of which are based on irrational methods 
or fraudulent procedures. Undoubtedly he is an educated phy- 
sician and understands the principles of medicine, in a measure, 
but while he has been elevated to the first rank on account of 
his alleged discoveries he is, in my opinion, a man of little more 
than ordinary attainments, who has become famous by reason 
of the exploitation of a specialty which is based on fake deduc- 
tions from erroneous observations. 



But there are others. I was in the office of The Chicago 
Chronicle in August 1905 in the sanctum of the Sunday editor. 
By the way the Chronicle prints more misfit medical stuff, al- 
leged to be information, than any ten daily newspapers ought 
to publish, in utter disregard of the proverb, ne sutor ultra cre- 
pidam, and thus gives circulation to numerous misconceptions 
of the nature of disease as in the letter which follows. Well, 
as I said I was in the Sunday editor's sanctum when to him 
enters the foreman of the composing room and said, "What am 
I to do with this stuff from that damned old stick-in-the-mud 
down at New Orleans?" 



204 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



"Let me seeV said the editor. "Why this is from Dr. 
Holt, who has been quarantine officer of New Orleans for 
twenty-five years. Oh! this mnst go in the paper." 

"Any pictures to go in with it?" 

"Yes, take these and tag the letter to them," and he 
handed four pictures to the foreman. 

These pictures were taken at Thebes, 111. One showed some 
men cleaning wells; a second showed an inspector flagging a 
train: the third showed a man fighting the ste-gom-YAH with 
oil: and the fourth exhibited the mayor of Thebes riding in a 
buggy directing the crusade against the yellow fever muss- 
kec-to. The whole— the letter and pictures— displays the care 
and discrimination exercised by the Sunday editor in selecting 
and arranging "the stuff" for the Sunday edition of his paper 
and this method of mixing a letter from New Orleans with 
illustrations from Thebes show that he is fully qualified to be 
classed under the caption of my discourse. 

Holt's letter follows: 

POISON OF YELLOW FEVER-NEW ORLEANS AUTHOR- 
ITY COMPARES IT TO RATTLESNAKE'S VENOM.— 
MOSQUITO INFECTION FOLLOWED BY SAME 
EFFECTS AS REPTILE'S BITE-USE OF 
DRUGS TO FORCE ORGANS TO RE- 
MEDIAL WORK MEANS DEATH. 

BY JOSEPH HOLT, M. D. 

In the course of my remarks on the treatment of yellow 
fever I mention to you now that for clearer illustration I may 
use mixed metaphor and, if so, you will know that it is in- 
tentional and no apology necessary. 

This subject is one that may be briefly epitomized or hugely 
extended. It may be condensed into a very small brochure 
or explained voluminously, according to literary proclivity. 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 205 



One may have mueli to say in little or little in much. As for 
myself, I can better respond to your wish by repeating, while 
fresh in my mind and with some enlargement, my reply to a 
young physician a few evenings since who propounded these 
questions: "Doctor, please tell me, do you give quinine in yel- 
low fever and what do you consider the best treatment of the 
disease ? " 

My esteemed young friend, you are just entering the gate- 
way of experience and I hope you may find wisdom without 
paying overdear for its possession. As to quinine in yellow 
fever, I ask why, what has suggested it? ''Well, Dr. Osier ad- 
vises it." Yes, my dear boy, and he further tells us that 
neither emetics nor purgatives are now employed, and when 
hemorrhage sets in to use perchloride of iron, all of which is 
enough to make a New Orleans physician collapse in fatal syn- 
cope. 

Let Dr. Osier pursue this course in Baltimore, where they 
have inhabitants, perhaps, overcrowded and to spare, but ta 
advise it as permissible in New Orleans he merely declares to 
us that he passed his 40 mark by many decades, and for the 
sake of his yellow fever patients should have been chloroformed 
long ago. We send him a counter recommendation in the Kibby 
cot and ice water affusion. They will surely settle the busi- 
ness for Baltimore. 

GRrE NO DRUG. 

No sir ! After your initial and preparatory measures give 
no drug, and, least of all, a nauseous one, when you know that 
the stomach already is moving on in dreadful haste in the di- 
rection of a supreme crisis, a disorganizing and hemorrhagic 
congestion, whose terminal may be black vomit and speedy 
death. 

Why do you speak of quinine, knowing that you are deal- 
ing with a poison possessed of the putrefactive virulence, in- 



206 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

yoking a like universal sepsis, a liquefying spoliation of the 
blood and hemorrhages, with rapid tissue changes and soften- 
ing of the fatty degenerative series such as characterize also 
the venom of the f er-de-lance and both alike touching the life of 
all the blood corruptibly? 

Did it ever flash into your mind, young gentleman, the 
close geographical kinship between yellow fever and the family 
crotalidae represented in the fer-de-lance, the moccasin and the 
rattlesnake? Of course, it is coincident, but is more than merely 
coincident, I call it a geographically localized creative ten- 
dency, as witness China— all things yellow and one pervasive, 
absolutely unique odor, and numerous even more striking evi- 
dences of such like qualitative kinships in nature, geographically 
limited. 

As to what you shall give in yellow fever, let me cover a 
wide field in a few words. But let me say to you right here 
that your duty is in behalf of your patient first and to the 
protection of your people second and not to the furtherance of 
pharmacological inquiry. In responding to this dual duty you 
must have the backing of your own strong integrity, of a 
courageous manhood and conduct yourself so clearly in your 
high office that you may command unquestioning confidence in 
the face of any trial. Quail not under a covert threat. Far 
better to forfeit your life in a glorious martyrdom for truth 
than to have your people to cry out in their distress, like Job, 
rising in his affliction: ''But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all 
physicians of no value.'* 

SEARCH FOR SPECIFIC FUTILE. 

Concerning treatment, I tell you now that every known 
energy and substance, excepting, to date, the X-ray and radium, 
have been ransacked in the quest of a specific, and in that par- 
ticular we are today where we were 100 years ago. 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 207 



In assuming the care of a case of yellow fever the phy- 
sician must have clearly defined a mental picture of the four 
stages of the disease, shading one into the other, in progressive 
unfolding; recognizing and interpreting each in the succession 
of symptoms. To do this makes the skilled diagnostician and 
without it there is no such thing as a masterful, a safe and 
judicious treatment. Right here lies the difference between the 
trustworthy yellow fever physician and the wholly unreliable 
physician, because not skilled in this bedside interpretation, 
so the whole question rests finally on this power. 

From observation I will boldly say that the most danger- 
ous allies of yellow fever, excepting, of course, first and always 
the man who chooses not to recognize the first cases when he 
sees them glaringly and suppresses information of the first 
sparks of pestilence from motives of cowardice or his own little 
rascally preferment — next to him, but far less criminal, is the 
charlatan and blatant ignoramus, with diploma or not; close 
behind is the educated physician, long in practice outside the 
yellow fever zone, simply because he brings his accumulated 
experience to bear in confident assurance in the one lone, abso- 
lutely unique malady, the most mysterious on the planet. 

ANALOGUE OF RATTLESNAKE. 

With a big heart and a generous, helping hand, a complete 
and sacrificial offering of self, he plunges into the treatment of 
an infection that holds its destructive sway in the unseen world 
of matter, in its operation the analogue of the rattlesnake among 
things visible. Named by its nature, it should be called Nolli 
me tangere, and no such dignified, warning name misapplied to 
a chronic ulcer. 

In every variegated diamond, in the triangular, square- 
jawed head and sullen eye you see in the rattler written all 
over by the hand of nature Nolli me tangere, and so in the 
outward signs and inward working of yellow fever. "Provoke 



208 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



me if you dare! I hold this patient and in me is the issue of 
life and death. Hands off!" 

In the s}Tnptomatic movement through its stages we note 
the chill, speedily followed by a fever of variable intensity and 
duration, let us say from twenty-four to seventy-two hours, 
declining abruptly or gradually into a listless stage of inter- 
mission or of marked remission. This is the treacherous vortex 
calm following the storm of primary assault of the true poison 
itself. 

PROGRESS OF DISEASE. 

This calm may be final in death or convalescence, but 
usually on the third, fourth or fifth day comes the secondary 
storm, from a new direction, and due to septic and other toxic 
consequence, and the. enormous obstructive accumulation of tis- 
sue debris. The successful elimination of these secondary tox- 
ines introduces the last stage, convalescence; its failure means 
death. 

Simply recognizing the composite detail of this picture: 
The gathering storm, the approucliing crisis in destructive con- 
gestions and probable hemorrhages; the universal degenerative 
destructive tissue wreckage, this I picture before your eyes, the 
treatment of the disease suggests itself. First, last and all the 
time your defensive cry is, elimination. That one word and 
gentle ministration in hygienic care covers, with rare excep- 
tion, the whole field of your ability. "For whatsoever is more 
than these cometh of evil." 

A firm self-control and a strict interpretation of s^inptom- 
atie evidence is your panoply in the fight. 

To have a strong or reasonable hope of success the treat- 
ment must begin early, certainly within the first twenty-four 
hours. Later than that the precious time is forfeited. 

Your initial step is eliminative without irritation. Accord- 
ing to age, physique and urgency, from five to fifteen grains of 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 209 



calomel, but no bicarbonate of soda, given preferably in a tea- 
spoonful of fine ice. Fonr hours later a full dose of an active 
but mild purgative, such as the stomach is most likely to bear; 
no pills. The old time infusion of senna, manna and salts or 
a full dose of castor oil, made as agreeable as possible, or an 
active saline water. This may be supplemented by a large 
enema if not unduly exciting to the patient. 

EMETIC IS FIRST REMEDY. 

Where the stomach is gorged with a recent meal or things 
hard of digestion empty quickly with an emetic, first thing. 
When the stomach has been cleared and the bowels freely re- 
lieved of their entire contents, you have reached your limit of 
vigorous medication, and, like Paul in the tempestuous Euro- 
clydon: "When the ship was caught and could not bear up into 
the wind we let her drive." 

Go on favoring elimination, and your safe friend is water, 
cool or cold, plain so or any modification, as a light lemonade. 
ApoUinaris, vichy, the light, pure fruit juice additions or Buf- 
falo lithia ad libitum. For high fever a large bowl of warm 
water and free wet toweling of the body, but never ice or any- 
thing cold applied externally. 

The guarded ice bag to the hemorrhagic stomach is the only 
exception. 

To further aid in control of high fever small one or two 
grain doses of phenacetin or acetanelide or such like, according 
to preference, may be given and repeated in two hours if re- 
quired. Invoke only the gentle effect. Everything gentle and 
nonirritant is all that you do. Comfort is itself a powerful 
remedy. 

The calm stage calls for absolute rest. A little Ducros' 
elixir, with ice or water, if acceptable, or panopepton and water 



210 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 



if preferred. The use of a small, soft cathete is sometimes im- 
perative; watch for retention. 

WHEN DANGER LINE IS REACHED. 

In the fourth, fifth or sixth day we reach a danger line in 
the resumption of nourishment. The state of the stomach and 
its ability to bear must be our guide. Until the red edged and 
pointed tongue and the oral mucous membrane and gums have 
paled from their appearance of acute erythema you must pro- 
ceed with exceeding caution in nourishing your patient; a 
little haste in premature feeding, giving too much or too rich 
or any kind of solid may readily irritate and rush an other- 
wise well progressing case into gastric hemorrhage and into 
uncontrollable recurrent fever, or the tornado from another 
quadrant, let me rather say. 

For such hemorrhage, actual or threatened, I give ice 
freely, sometimes with an eighth or twelfth of a grain of cocaine 
hydrochlorate. Here I use ice as a poultice over the stomach, 
carefully guarding against excessive refrigerating by one, two 
or three thicknesses of flannel or towel between ice bag and 
skin. Iced champagne is sometimes grateful, but often soon 
tired of; Ducro's elixir is generally liked better, panopepton or 
sometimes a little weak, very fine brandy. 

As the evidences of acute inflammatory action subside be- 
gin with three or four teaspoonfuls of iced milk with one-fourth 
of lime water, or milk and vichy half and half. Repeat in an 
hour or two and the next day increase the quantity, alternate 
with a delicately prepared chicken broth cooked with a little 
rice or barley, strained out. Then go on and nourish as you 
would a mild or desperate case of typhoid fever. I allow no 
preparation of beef. No fresh meat the balance of the season. 
The secondary fever on the third or fourth day means ob- 
structed elimination, usually intestinal, and calls for a very 
gentle but thorough purgative, aided by mild enemata. 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. * 211 



DEPRESSION OF PULSES. 

Depression of pulse below 50 calls for strychina, one-thir- 
tieth to a sixtieth of a grain, hypodermically, bnt not always so, 
and repeated according to your judgment. 

Be cautious with alcoholic stimulation, knowing the fatty 
changes in the liver, the acute and subacute inflammation of the 
gastro-intestinal tract. Alcoholic subjects generally die; big 
meat eaters close behind. 

Concerning the kidneys, pathologically, you know that 
they, too, are in a state of profound degeneration and with 
such epithelial disintegration and the crowding of tubules with 
toxine and combustion products you are not surprised at the 
interference and often complete annihilation of function, the 
uremic convulsions and death. 

This condition plainly tells you to refrain from drugs, in 
the hope of forcing function. They simply will not functionate 
under your rude command. Be persuasive, keep the bowels 
freely opened and remember that water is your kindest friend. 
A light, cold whey with seltzer or vichy does a double work in 
nourishing and elimination. The number of things given and 
done more than this are, in the face of this pathology, irrational, 
fussy and often harmful. 

In using them you must confessedly say you do not really 
and sincerely know what you are about. I am not talking about 
your notions and a case you once saw recover; our case has 
reached a climax, for better or for worse, and drugs are not 
going to solve it. 

Now, dear fellow, this is all I have to say. Professional 
tact and experience will fill in the finer touches of detail. If 
you will do just a few things with masterful precision and self- 
restraint and patiently watch with hopeful expectation and a 
fair confidence in the regenerating power of nature you will 
have done all the things you ought to have done and will have 



212 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



left undone the things you ought not to have done, and wisdom 
is justified in her son. 



Well! Of all the I wonder if words will fail me 

in commenting on this screed of a New Orleans doctor who was 
for twenty-five years quarantine officer of that city and who 
shows by this letter, written for the benefit of physicians of 
the north, where yellow fever never prevails, that he does not 
know a little bit about that disease. 

He details some conversation with a young medical friend 
who asks: ''Do you give quinine in yellow fever?" and the re- 
ply is: ""What has suggested it?" and the young man says: 
"Dr. Osier advises it." 

Ah! Indeed! Pray who is Osier and what does he know 
about yellow fever that he should assume to advise the ad- 
ministration of quinine to patients suffering from that disease. 
He also advises the use of perchloride of iron when hemorrhages 
set in. Great Grod! What shocking ignorance! A bas Osier! 
To the scrap-heap with his writings. 

Holt's writing is so bombastic, so arrogant and has so little 
sequence that a logical mind has difficulty in following his line 
of thought. "First, last and all the time," he says. "Your 
defensive cry is elimination." Of what? Oh! prince of phy- 
sicians tell us what is to be eliminated and by what means? 
Of the poison instilled into the veins by the sting of the ste- 
gom-YAH— a poison as virulent as that of the fer-de-lance. 
Pshaw ! Why this is nothing but the braying of an ass. Poison ! 
Why there is no poison. 

Holt says as regards a specific for the disease we are where 
we were 100 years ago. Small wonder, when men supposedly 
intelligent adopt the mosquito theory of the disease. 

"To have a strong or reasonable hope of success the treat- 
ment must begin early, certainly within the first twenty-four 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 213 



hours/' lie says. That is he waits until the disease has de- 
clared itself. This is what cost poor Chapelle his life. His 
physician waited until the disease declared itself and then be- 
gan treatment. This waiting is what costs every yellow fever 
patient his life. Ohsta principiis is the rule here. The patients 
sleep poorly for a week, their appetites fail and they do not 
complain. At length symptoms become pronounced and when 
the doctor is called he waits until he is sure of his diagnosis. 
Then he begins the treatment that ought to have been begun 
two or three days previously. This delay is what cost Chapelle 
his life and what costs the life of every yellov/ fever patient 
who dies of that disease. 

Holt says: — "Every known substance has been ransacked 
in the quest of a specific and today we are where we were 100 
years ago." This is difficult to understand. But he evidently 
means that no specific has been found for yellow fever. This 
shows that he knows nothing whatever of ME and of MY thera- 
peutic virtues. 

The most emphatic language indulged in by Holt and 
which shows that he knows nothing about yellow fever is when 
he remarks of it that "it is the one lone, absolutely unique 
malady, the most mysterious on the planet. ' ' Rot ! 

The doctor who believes in the doctrine that yellow fever 
is due to a poison introduced into the blood by a mosquito or 
from any source is a consummate ass. The doctor who will 
not accept the theory propounded by the learned Dr. Wood that 
yellow fever is acute general arterio-motor gangasthema is also 
a consummate ass. The doctor who will not begin his treat- 
ment of yellow fever with appropriate doses of ME is a consum- 
mate ass. And there you are. 



The chuckle-headed-chump who went from St. Paul to New 
Orleans and tried to treat the disease with small doses of ar- 



214 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

senic on the principle of similia similihus was convinced and 
convinced everybody else that he knew no more about the 
nature of yellow fever than old Holt did. And Holt's letter is 
convincing enough that though he has had opportunities for 
twenty-five years to study and treat the disease he knows 
nothing about it and he nor anybody else will know until they 
accept and adopt the theory of the learned Dr. Wood and 
learn how to use ME and employ MY therapeutic virtues. Vale 
Holt. He may go off the face of the earth whenever he is 
ready. For twenty-five years he has been paid for knowledge 
that he never possessed and he may now crawl into his hole 
and disappear. 



Let us call up again our old friend Georgie Sternberg. He 
wrote in some one of the journals of the day. It is of no im- 
portance which one: "It is evident that in view of our present 
knowledge relating to the transmission of yellow fever the pre- 
ventive measures which have heretofore been considered most 
important i. e. isolation of the sick, disinfection of clothing and 
bedding and municipal sanitation are either of no avail or of 
comparatively little value." 

Eight you are Georgie, but it has taken a long time for 
these ideas to enter your brain. You say that the germ of yel- 
low fever is ultra-microscopical. Georgie I thank you for that 
beautiful compound word, "ultra-microscopical." That means 
if the germ of yellow fever were magnified one million times 
it would not be visible. Which is the same as an admission 
that there is no germ of yellow fever and Georgie you will 
please to refer to preceding pages of this book in which the 
learned Dr. Wood has set forth that fact in unmistakable lan- 
guage and I may state that he will be glad to admit you to 
the ranks of the anti-bacterists and to membership in the com- 
pany of those who do not accept the mosquito theory of disease. 



THE QUEST OF THE GEBM. 



215 



But there are others, as witness. The learned Dr. Wood 
wrote to Luke E. Wright, Governor of the Philippine Islands, 
under date of January 25, 1904, advising him of a specific for 
cholera. Under date of March 8, 1904, Gov. Wright acknowl- 
edged the doctor's ''very courteous communication" and stated 
that it had been referred "to the Attending Physician and 
Surgeon for Civil Officers and Employees." On March 21, 
1904, the report of that official was forwarded by A. W. Fer- 
guson, Executive Secretary, to Dr. Wood and it reads as fol- 
low^s : "It is my opinion that this drug [bromide of ammonium] 
would be impracticable of administration, and if it were its 
effect would be of no value in this disease [cholera]. I do not 
believe that its exhibition in cholera would do much harm, if 
any, but this gentleman [the learned Dr. Wood] does not men- 
tion method of use or dosage. There being no cholera in Man- 
ila at this time it is impossible to demonstrate its value." 

Is not that a delicious morceau compounded of ignorance 
and stupidity. I would like to know that fellow's name so that 
I might impale him on the tenter-hooks of scientific opinion for 
his slurs on ME. It seems impossible that so much of ignorance 
could be crowded into so few words. I'll bet a Manila cheroot, 
3-fers, that the typewriter was obliged to correct the ortho- 
graphy of that fellow's report. Scrap-heap for him! 



' ' Oh, my prophetic soul ! " I knew some other lunkhead 
would take up the prophetic strain. Hear him. He writes in 
''The World Today" under date of Oct. 1905 and his name 
is C. Arthur Williams. His prophecy is immense. He says: 
'* Perfect immunity may be had in the future by getting rid 
of the Ste-gom-YAH. It is a difficult task. [Sure it is. Brer. 
Williams] but it can be done." ["How? Oh! how? Brer. 
Williams. Tell us and earn the undying gratitude of millions 
of your fellow citizens.] Williams continues: "The advantages 



216 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



of control by the government has been demonstrated and the* 
need of uniform quarantine regulations painfully apparent. 
[Brer. Williams don't you know that if quarantine regulations 
were abolished such action would be more painful than their 
present enforcement to those officials who have been authorized 
to enforce them. Why all of those fellows would be affected 
with a three-cornered pain— the very worst kind of pain— if they 
could not continue to occupy a large space in the public eye as 
strenuous fighters of the Ste-gom-YAH. Their occupation would 
be gone and they would suffer largely from this variety of pain 
—a very irritating, depressing exasperating and regTetting pain.] 
But Brer. Williams takes heart and further says : ' ' Lessons have 
been taught even if at a heavy cost and it is the firm belief of 
experts that if they are put to proper account the south need 
never have another experience with the dreaded malady" Jes-so I 



But there are others. Let us hear what they have to say. 
At New Orleans in Sept. 1905 it was announced that the yellow 
fever germ had actually been discovered again by Dr. P, E. 
Achinard, Dr. J. Birney Guthrie and Prof. J. C. Smith, the 
latter is said to be a biologist of world-wide fame, [Smith?" 
Smith? never heard of him before.] This is said to be "be- 
yond question one of the most radically important discoveries 
in the field of medicine for fifty years. Pshaw ! a dozen differ- 
ent germs of yellow fever have been discovered and the Ste- 
gom-YAH has put them all out of business as causes. 



Another one. On Feb. 11, 1905, the steamer Orizaba ar- 
rived at New York from Colon, having a yellow fever patient 
on board. The ship was not detained at quarantine but the 
man was removed to a hospital. Dr. Doty, health officer of the 
port, who is nothing if not an expert, justified his action by 
saying: "It is now so well recognized that yellow fever is com- 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 217 

municable only by mosquitos that vessels bringing cases to this 
port are no longer detained at quarantine, except when they 
arrive within five days from an infected port. The Orizaba had 
been ont seven days from Colon." 

But say, Doty, as an expert, please to tell us if it would 
have made any difference in your action if the Orizaba arriving 
in midwinter had been out only three days from an infected 
port? You see your excuse is one of those cheap and nasty 
sophistications that such experts as you are in the habit of 
employing. Next time give scientific reasons for your action. 



Here is another. Paris Feb. 11, 1905. (Special Gable- 
gram.) Professor Chantemesse read a paper before the Acad- 
emy of Medicine this week declaring that European countries are 
less liable to yellow fever since the advent of fast sailing ships. 
He believes mosquitos are responsible for the spread of the dis- 
ease, but says their transmission is impossible except in slow 
sailing wooden vessels. What an infernal muff this fellow 
must be to select such a silly subject and write a paper on it 
to be read before a learned body of men like the Paris Acad- 
emy of iMedicine. What arrant nonsense it must have been. 

Per contra hear this:— Washington, D. C, May 24, 1905. 
It has been officially stated that there is some fear that the 
Panama canal may become a factor in introducing yellow fever 
into the Philippines and the entire orient. [This bears the 
ear-marks of the surgeon-generals office. Surely such stuff 
would not be given out officially by any other aggregation in 
Washington.] 



Dr. K. H. Strong, director of the biological laboratory irt- 
Manila, [a scientist of world-wide fame in the same class with 
Smith of New Orleans] in his report to the Philippine com.- 



218 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

mission shows that the Hawaiian Islands, Guam and the Philip- 
pines will be exposed to the importation of the mosquito that 
carries the fever. The disease often follows the lines of com- 
mercial maritime travel and close relationship exists between 
commerce and yellow fever. 

He declares that an infected mosquito is capable of carry- 
ing the disease at least fifty-one days. [Holy Moses ! Fifty-one 
days ! Just think of it. Think of that poor devil of a mosquito, 
stowed away in the hold of one of those steamers, loaded down 
with the virus of yellow fever. Oh! horrors] after biting a 
person suffering with the fever and says that a case ( ?) reach- 
ing Manila would find every chance in favor of its spread. So 
they have scientists in Manila. Well we will just scrap-heap 
his data. This is the limit. What a far-fetched howl it is. 
Fifty-one days! Oh! Lord! They seem to have a choice col- 
lection of doctors in Manila. 



Per contra again:— Here is something from a truly scien- 
tist. His name is F. B. Hillman and he hails from May- 
wood, 111. He wrote a letter to the Chicago Daily News last 
summer ('95) and in this connection it is worth hearing. The 
letter follows: — 

"Over the signature of 'Dr. J. L. E.' a physician recently 
wrote to the Daily News about mosquitos and yellow fever. 
After reading this communication I am impressed with the 
idea that if the medical profession would discard its theories 
and fads it might easily arrive at the cause of this dread dis- 
ease. I do not believe in germs and I know from experience 
that yellow fever has various causes, its principal helper be- 
ing a malarial climate. Diet has a great deal to do with its 
development. While personal cleanliness should be observed 
by every person, yet it is no protection from the disease. 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 219 

' ' The first signs of yellow fever 's approacli are a slimy sen- 
sation in the mouth and a disposition to yawn, followed by 
chills. Then comes a gradually rising fever similar to that 
occurring after an ague. At this stage of the disease the 
patient's first duty is to secure a physician and his next step 
is to interview the undertaker. 

''If when the slimy taste appears in the mouth the pa- 
tient should take a strong purgative there is no doubt in the 
writer's mind that nine-tenths of the afflicted could escape 
fatal results. I had the yellow fever in 1873 and escaped death 
by avoiding the doctors. 

"I took occasion to visit the stricken district in 1878 and 
to study the disease from a common sense standpoint, nursing 
several patients, not one of whom needed a wooden overcoat. 
The majority of the writers on the subject of yellow fever are 
like the editor of the poultry journal who wouldn't know a 
hen if he met one in the street." 

There is a scientist. That man ought to be elected Pro- 
fessor of Yellow Fever in some medical college. All the lunk- 
heads of science that ever observed a case of the disease have 
looked at it with unintelligent eyes— which is to say the eyes of 
faith. But here is a man who looked at his own case and the 
cases of others with the eyes of reason and his observations will 
override all the observations of all the lunkheads that ever saw 
or treated a case because they were based on reason and 
judgment and not on belief. "We wiU place this man on the 
pedestal alongside of Peter A. Grotjan who has stated that when 
he had the disease he "contracted it in the natural way." 



Now that I have the class before me I will ask them to- 
answer this question: When Grotjan said he had contracted the 
fever in the natural way, what did he mean by that? One at 
a time. Ah! here is a little fellow on the front bench. Whyl 



220 THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 

it is Watty Wyman holding up his hand. Well, Wyman, what 
do yon say? and he pipes out ''I know, he was bitten by a 
mns-kee-to. " That will do Watty. Yon may go away back 
and sit down and I will give you as escorts to the rear Johnnie 
White and Billy Rucker, who may also sit down. The three 
of you may put porous plasters over your mouths and give all 
your attention to the study of the book known as the The 
Quest of the Germ, written by the learned Dr. Wood and al- 
low the ideas contained in that book to percolate in your brains. 
You wiU then be prepared to take your place among the true 
scientists and then you may emerge from your retiracy. 



But think of the PROGRESS OF MEDICINE in 100 years. 
From Grot j an 's profound insight into the method by which he 
contracted yellow fever in 1805 to the persistent efforts of the 
lunkheads to fasten the idiotic idea on the minds of the world 
that it is propagated by the Ste-gom-YAH. And now comes 
Hillman in 1905 and confirms Grotjan after a 100 years. Ten 
thousand opinions from ten thousand lunkheads can not con- 
trovert the convincing views of these two men. 



In the south very few persons accept the mosquito theory. 
I was down there last summer during the prevalence of the 
disease out in the country among the "crackers" and I heard 
one of those ignoramuses say to one of his boys:— 

''Here son, take dad's old rifle and load it up with buck- 
shot and go down to the corner. They've got yellow jack up 
to Slabtown and if any person comes from that direction warn 
'em to go back and if they do not go back blow 'em full of 
holes." To the other boy he said:— 

Here Johnnie, take your dad's double-barrel and load it 
up to the muzzle and guard the other corner. They have yel- 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 221 

low jack down to Punkinville and if any fellow comes from 
that-a-way tell him to go back and if he won't do it riddle him 
with shot. We-nns don't want no yellow jack around here. 
Your ma will take your dinners out to you. Keep a sharp 
look out." 

That is what they call shotgun quarantine in the South. 



The honored gentleman who sits at the seat of goyernment 
and who is supposed to have the interests of all the people of 
his state at heart issues a document proclaiming quarantine 
against all persons from other states whenever yellow fever pre- 
vails in those states. This honorable man, who is reported to 
be educated and intelligent displays the same ignorance of the 
cause and nature of yellow fever as does the low-down "cracker" 
who can neither read nor write but who thinks he is entitled 
to protect himself and family from the invasion of disease with 
a shotgun. This same opinion engendered of ignorance and 
superstition was entertained by all the people of the South until 
recently. Now many persons have adopted the mosquito theory 
and think all that is necessary to do is to protect themselves from 
the bite of the mosquito. The lunkheads of science have stum- 
bled on the fact that yellow fever is not due to a germ. They 
have stumbled on the theory that it is due to the mosquito. 
Here they have the true cause and nature of the disease set 
forth in this book. Will the lunkheads accept and adopt it? 
Not on your life ! A more damned irrational being than a medi- 
cal lunkhead can not be found on this earth except in the case 
of a theological lunkhead. These are on a par and it is as im- 
possible to drive the superstitions out of the minds of the one 
class as it is out of the minds of the other. Selah ! 



I will next call your attention to a very extensive and ex- 
pensive work in twenty volumes published by my friends Wm. 



222 J THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 

Wood & Co. of New York, entitled: "Twentieth Century Prac- 
tice, An International Encyclopedia of Modern Medical Science 
by Leading Authorities of Europe and America. Edited by 
Thos. L. Stedman, M.D. These twenty volumes purchased for 
a considerable sum may be found in the reference room of the 
public library of Milwaukee. The volumes are kept under lock 
and key and are consulted probably about once in six months 
by the physicians of the city. The learned Dr. Wood asked 
Dr. Peckham, the librarian, to subscribe for a copy of this 
book but he declined to do so, alleging as a reason that no medi- 
cal works were purchased for the library. Thereupon the 
learned doctor instanced this encyclopedia of twenty volumes. 
Dr. Peckham replied that the work was an exceptional one. 
Now I propose to give it a little "knock." The work contains 
a chapter on Yellow Fever by a "Leading Authority" named 
Woolford Nelson of nearly one hundred pages. Bear in mind 
that the work was published late in the last century and so 
one need not expect to find that any mention of the mosquito 
theory of yellow fever is made therein because that theory was 
produced by the lunkheads at a date subsequent to the publica- 
tion of the work. But it might appear in a second edition of 
the work — if a second edition might ever be issued. However, 
to guard against such contingency I hereby "scrap-heap" the 
entire chapter on yellow fever contained in the International 
Encyclopedia of Modern Medicine. Vale Nelson! Good luck 
to ye! 



Here is another lunkhead that I picked up in Chicago. He 
read a paper before the Academy of Medicine in that city in 
which he propounded the theory that NOISE is the cause of 
tuberculosis. You would think that a lunkhead would have 
some sense but when a fellow deliberately writes a paper and 
deliberately gets up and reads it to an aggregation of men who 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 223 



know a. little something about the so-called science of medicine 
and propounds so silly a theory it is plain to the most casual 
observer that such a fellow lacks tertianation. It is also plain 
to the casual observer that this fellow's normal position is in the 
faculty of Jawn D's university, where men are accepted solely 
on the basis of the originality of- their views— at least prior to 
the death of the lamented Dr. Wm. Harper. I commend this 
very rare and exceptional view of the cause of tuberculosis to 
those who have charge of the free exhibit of matters connected 
with the "Great White Plague." Yes, I fondly commend it to 
their careful consideration, and I do this without any swear 
words because they would not do the subject justice. Are 
there any other lunkheads in Chicago? Yes! Lots of 'em. 



Still they come. It is reported from the city of Mexico that 
one Dr. A. [ndrew] J. [ackson] Smith has been investigating" 
fevers in the tropical regions for several months. "For several 
months," think of that! The man who investigates a subject for 
several months ought to find out something about it. So ac- 
cordingly we learn that as a result of his investigations Dr. 
A— J— Smith announces it to be his opinion that bedbugs are 
the means of carrying yellow fever as well as mosquitos. 

"Of course," said this particular Dr. Smith, "a mosquito 
can carry the disease as well as any other animal that becomes 
infected with it, but yellow fever is contagious in the same way 
that any other fever of the same type (?) is contagious, and' 
there is not one case in a hundred that is contracted through 
mosquito bites. I have studied the disease closely both in the 
United States and Mexico and I have known any number of 
cases (how many? 100? 1,000? 10,000? Oh! Smithee, you poor 
fool! You don't know what you are talking about) which were 
contracted from the atmosphere which had been poisoned by 



224 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



the germs. I consider the mosquito theory, that is generally 
believed in the same light as such theories as the nebular hypoth- 
esis, which is nothing more than a superficial explanation of 
a problem that has not been solved." 

Why, Smithee, you have some sense after all. But you 
must drop the bedbug theory and the germ theory. 

Will Dr. Watty Wyman and Dr. Georgie Sternberg and 
some of those other fellows please to labor with this benighted 
brother and bring him to see the error of his ways? 



Here comes another one. This one seems to be an editor 
which need not surprise anybody, for he is one of Walsh 's editors 
and works on The Chicago Chronicle. Referring to the pre- 
valence of yellow fever in the south in 1905 he says the lesson 
•of the situation is that national quarantine is necessary. He 
argues that if such a system had prevailed the disease would 
have been speedily extirpated at New Orleans. Not at all, son- 
ny. The thing to prevail is not a system of quarantine but 
knowledge, defixiite knowledge, specific knowledge of the cause 
and nature of yellow fever, and that is to be found only within 
the covers of this book which facts constitute the encouraging 
feature of the situation. 

And in conjunction with this article, side by side with it, 
is another article on "Belief" which in a sense is the paradox 
of the other. The editor says, "There is close relation between 
belief and reasoning, but there is no greater error than to 
suppose that reasoning is the only thing that can produce beliefs 
and that all of our beliefs are the result of reasoning." "A 
belief may be perpetuated from generation to generation in an 
ever-widening circle for thousands of years and even become 
universal without having a particle of fact or logic for its basis." 

As you say, sonny, ' ' Sich is life. ' ' But when you find your- 
self in error as you are in regard to national quarantine lift 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 225 

your hat to me and acknowledge the matter. My son, there is 
no need of quarantine against cholera or yellow fever, either local 
or general and it mnst be abolished and when this idea at length 
penetrates your noddle it will be your duty to advocate the 
abolishment of such restriction on travel and traffic; so that 
hereafter people may come and go and traffic shall not be in- 
terrupted by damned fools with shotguns in their hands or by 
other damned fools with proclamations. This my dictum, the 
result of knowledge and profound reasoning is addressed to all 
my children who occupy the tripod. If any disobey my man- 
dates which are commandent, they will receive deserved castiga- 
tion from me. 



Well they are approaching the views of the learned Dr. 
Wood even in congress, a body that acts on the principle of 
festina lente, except in an emergency. The quarantine bill has 
been much changed in committee. In regard to interstate com- 
merce through states during a quarantine its effect is to pre- 
vent interruption of through passengers or freight, but to give 
state authorities jurisdiction to control or prevent the de- 
barkation of passengers or unloading of freight contrary 
to the regulations of the local authorities. This is merely a 
sop. How the damned superstition lingers. The whole must 
eventually be granted and quarantine be abolished everywhere 
in these United States against yellow fever and cholera. 



The medical officials on the isthmus are taking such steps 
as they deem proper to conserve the health of the laborers on 
the canal. They have purchased for the use of the doctors 
twenty-three tons of chloride of iron, fifty-two tons of sulphur 
and fourteen tons of insect powder. There are two species of 
mosquitoes to contend with in that country; the anopheles and 
the Ste-gom-YAH. If the physicians in charge can not extirpate 



226 THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 



the first they are advised to invite Dr. Ronald Ross of Liver- 
pool, who made the discovery that malaria is conveyed chiefiy 
by mosquitos, for which alleged discovery he was awarded by 
that aggregation of lunkheads at Stockholm the Nobel prize for 
1902, for consultation as to how to get rid of malaria on the 
isthmus. As to how to prevent other diseases they can best do 
that by dissolving the chloride of iron in water and sprinkling 
the isthmus with the solution every day, and by using the 
^'Cyclone" bellows designed for the distribution of the insect 
powder for the dissemination of the sulphur to disinfect sus- 
pected places. It will be necessary to employ a small army of 
men for this purpose. Men may get sick with all of these 
precautions and many will die. Let 'em die. The doctors do 
not care for results except in the mortality tables and I am 
getting tired of recommending myself or I might say to those 
fellows: add to your supplies one ton of ME and whenever 
you encounter gangasthenia in any form administer of me. q. s. 
If you art a lot of damned lunkheads I predict that you will 
not take my advice but will pursue your own damned fool 
methods and may God have mercy on your miserable souls! 



I desire to refer to one of the saddest cases in history, and 
the results might have been, indeed ought to have been different. 
Would have been different too but for the blindness of the 
damned lunkheads of medicine who are 

Blind as never bat was blind 
With a burning bloodshot blindness of the mind 
A swimming swollen senselessness of soul. 
I refer to the case of Robert Louis Stevenson. For years 
he was afflicted with pulmonary hemorrhage. He was dosed 
secundum artem with all sorts of styptics and astringents. He 
was moved from one climate to another and buoyed up with 



THE QUEST OF THE GERM. 227 



hope; for a while he seemed to improve, when suddenly and 
seemingly without cause came another gush of red, hot arterial 
blood from his congested lungs and the poor fellow was again 
prostrated, and again dosed and dosed again and moved to an- 
other climate until at length he repaired to the islands of the 
Pacific where his life was suddenly ended by cerebral hemor- 
rhage. His was a sad, sad, sad case, for he might have lived 
for years to delight the world with the products of his genius. 
And what would have been more delightful to contemplate than 
such a lovable man in a serene old age, with silvery hair and 
crowned with the honors of a noble career. 

The saddest words of tongue or pen. 

Are these— It might have been. 

And I who address you, Sir-Brom-Am, declare that Robert 
Louis Stevenson 's pulmonary hemorrhage might have been stop- 
ped, checked, ended by the administration of ME in proper and 
sufficient doses. And if those doctors who treated him for that 
disorder shall ever encounter a similar case, having first as- 
similated the principles enunciated in this volume and shall 
follow the rules laid down herein they will be astonished, and if 
they are true physicians, gratified at the results. As it is the 
life of one of the most brilliant geniuses the world has ever 
produced, of one of the most amiable men that ever lived was 
sacrificed to nescience — to the stupidity of the lunkheads. Don't 
let it happen again. 



I understand from press notices that a new dictionary of 
the English language in twenty volumes is in course of pre- 
paration in Philadelphia and as what the compilers need is 
words to fill those volumes I beg leave to suggest a few to help 
them out. These words are derivatives of ganglia. They are 
kindergarten words and have no significance whatever but that 



228 THE QUEST OF THE GERM, 



need not prevent their being introduced into the new dictionary 
and being assigned to honorable places in the vocabulary with 
proper definitions attached. These words are gangliab, gangliad, 
gangliaf, gangliag, ganglia j, gangliak, gangliam, ganglian, gan- 
gliap, gangliaque, ganglias, gangliat, gangliav, gangliaw, gan- 
gliax, gangliaz. The compilers may leave all these words out of 
their new dictionary but I warn them that if they omit the 
word GANGASTHENIA with the elision of the "li" they will 
do so at peril of incurring the deep displeasure of the learned 
Dr. Wood. And they must see to it that that word is correctly 
defined under still direr peril. This is no idle threat. 



In the Scientific American of Feb. 11, 1905, it is stated 
that the Paris Academy of Sciences offers the Breant prize of 
100,000 francs for the discovery of an absolute specific against 
Asiatic cholera or to point out in an irrefutable manner the 
causes of Asiatic cholera so that the suppression of the disease 
will follow. 

Well of all the exasperating propositions ever published 
to the world this is the most exasperating. It is enough to 
make a man rave and tear his hair. But keep cool my learned 
master. We will make that close corporation the Paris Acad- 
emy of Sciences ''cough up" the entire sum bequeathed by M. 
Breant together with the interest that has been misappropriated 
these many years since your claim was filed. 

M. Breant left 400,000 francs to be awarded as a prize 
and now the prize has been reduced to 100,000. Why, when 
and by what authority has M. Breant 's will been thus in- 
validated ? 

That prize belongs to the learned Dr. Wood and has so 
belonged for many years but owing to lunkheadism he has not 
received it. 



THE QUEST OP THE GERM. 229 



I have termed him ''learned" in my discourses and in my 
opinion the scientist who forms a new class of diseases, and who 
has made clear the cause and nature of two of the most deadly 
diseases that affect mankind is entitled to that appellation. He 
will in course of time demand his rights from the Paris Academy 
of Sciences. Then I ask ''WILL YOU BE GOODr' and wiU 
you 

COUGH UP THE BREANT PRIZE TO ITS RIGHTFUL 

OWNER? 



Exit Sm BROM-AM. 



Bed Fire. 



Curtain. 



Note by the Editor.— So the noble Knight of Science, Sir 
Brom-Am sallies forth into the world to shed his light over 
the dark places of the earth. He wiU puncture the inflated con- 
ceits of the lunkheads and we will hear from him more. 



Books by Dr. Eugene H# Wood. 



The Quest of the Germ:— Just published. Price paper, 
75 cents. Cloth $1.50. Usual discount to libraries. 



(IN PREPARATION) 

Gangasthenia and the Bromide op Ammonium. This 
volume will consist of a collection of articles, written some years 
ago by Dr. Wood. They constitute too valuable a contribution 
to medical science to be allowed to lapse into oblivion. They 
have been amended and those who used to enjoy reading the 
Doctor's articles, will be pleased to get them in complete form. 
With much additional matter in the author's trenchant style. 
In cloth only, $1.50. 



(IN CONTEMPLATION) 

Pneumonia: A Monograph. This book will be written on 
the lines laid down in this volume and the results will be to 
place in the hands of every practitioner a rational method of 
treating this disease thus wiping out the reproach of the pro- 
fession that it is more deadly than the White Plague. Price, 
cloth $1.50. 



(OUT OF PRINT) 

Religion and Authority. A small volume of only 100 
pages, of great originality and profundity. One hundred and 
fifty copies of the book were printed and then the plates were 
destroyed. 



